


Station 74B

by jihyukkin



Series: The Tales Of Station 74B [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Mutant Powers, changlix's relationship is sort of there but they're definitely not focused on too hard, it's in the future woohoo, just a whole bunch of boys bein boys fightin for mutant rights, the government is filthy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2019-09-27 12:59:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 31,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17162408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jihyukkin/pseuds/jihyukkin
Summary: Kim Woojin and Yang Jeongin, mutants raised in the same secluded village, are forced into the big city, Seoul, when their home is stormed by government agents and they join M.P.A. They are assigned to station 74B, a station with 7 members and quite a few accomplishments to its name.They will have to play a game edging on the border of mafia-like politics and outright war, the same game that's been played, finished, and then repeated since the first mutants started appearing. But what does success cost?





	1. Station 74B, Songpa-gu, Seoul

**Author's Note:**

> fyi this fic is gonna suck and i've resigned myself to this fact. it is simply a pleasure fic because i like superpowers nd also revolution. whoop.
> 
> also here if you don't know these:
> 
> -ssi: basically like mr./ms.  
> songpa-gu: just a neighborhood in seoul

_Red columns blast towards the skies blanketed in red and black clouds, covered only by the shadows of trees yet unconsumed by the blaze. He coughs, throat irritated by the ash wedging its way into his lungs._

_Why isn’t his water listening to him? The one moment he needs it._

_Jeongin yells something behind him, but the heartbeat pounding in his ears and the crackling of fire quiet him into a whisper. The scream turns into a harsh fit of coughs, and Woojin worries for his throat._

_Where’s his mom?_

_She said she would be right behind them. She promised it. Where is she?_

_She promised._

_But Woojin promised as well. Jeongin’s hurt, he can’t wait._

_“We have to go.”_

 

The light reflecting off of the lady’s very nice, very professional glasses is making him want to gouge out his eyes. He’s sure she needs those to see, but he also needs her not to have them to be able to see.

She looks up, and, luckily, the light no longer hits them just right to send the beams into his face.

“Woojin-ssi,” She speaks with a delicate Seoul accent, like he’s heard over the radios, “I’m very certain you are aware that joining a station is not required for use of M.P.A.’s services.”

The lady—Kang Sowon, as her shiny, gray-framed name tag proudly states—takes a look up from the paperwork spread haphazardly across her desk. He’s never seen such an organized but unorganized secretary in his life.

To be fair, he hasn’t gotten around to seeing many.

“Yes.” He confirms, eyes glazing over her and instead focusing on the window open behind her.

It’s clear out, today.

That day, it had been cloudy. The morning had been all small thunder rumbles and soft rain pattering down on their roofs, and Jeongin had complained when it slipped from a hole in the ceiling onto his notebook. Woojin had been helping him with a school assignment.

He wonders if the school was taken too.

She hasn’t stopped looking at him, her eyes steadily keeping their stance. She’s asking a question.

“A friend from my hometown,” He answers, “he’s deadset on being able to do something.”

Kang Sowon nods, satisfied, and her eyes return to her paperwork. She scribbles down something on a line, and slides a paper on the outer edges of her desk into the center.

Skimming the paper with slim finger, she hums when her finger hits a name. “Yang Jeongin, born February 8th, 2201?”

“Yes.”

“He’s been assigned to a Station 74B.” That’s a low number. A bigger city, then. One of the first ones to get involved with M.P.A.

Well, more like one of the first ones M.P.A. involved.

She digs into her desk, sliding back in her chair to get a better angle. Woojin can see pages sticking out of the many folders crammed into the drawer she forces open. The few papers she pulls out comes from one of the backmost folders, where dust has started to settle.

She glances over the page, the corners of her lips turning upright into something not quite a smile, but the closest Woojin has seen her get to emotion.

“Bang Chan,” She ponders, “interesting.”

He would ask her why, but he hasn’t been in the habit of feeling things with any sort of real muster lately.

She seems to know this, and gets to the point.

“Yang Jeongin will be going to a station in Seoul, Songpa-gu.” She informs him, eyes scanning the lines on the paper, “Seven other members besides your friend.”

She hands him the paper.

“Leader’s Bang Chan, an impressive guy. If you’re with him, you must already have some luck.”


	2. Greyscale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meeting the boys (most of them, at least)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seoraksan and hallasan are mountains in korea, yeeT,,,,, ((also jeju is a province))

The train ride to Seoul is silent.

Neither of them have anything they want to say to each other. Or rather, Woojin has too many things he wants to say. So he won’t say any of them.

But Jeongin holds Woojin’s hand in his tiny, slightly shaking, too cold hands, and that’s enough for Woojin to know that he didn’t blame him.

Looking at Jeongin’s sleeping face now, he knows he should have known. He should have fought harder, should have trusted Jeongin’s precognition. At the time, they thought it was just another false dream, but Woojin knows it felt different. When Jeongin’s power shows itself, it feels different. It did.

He should have known.

The way to the station was blurry after waking up Jeongin and getting off the train, like his days were, now. It felt like nothing would ever have color or definition again.

They reach the station after sunset, when the bright artificial lights of signs advertising clubs and streetlights harsh enough to hurt his eyes replace the sun.

The station is a red-brick, almost rundown-looking apartment building on the corner of a quiet street. Woojin didn’t know there was a quiet street in Songpa-gu.

“Hyung,” Jeongin squeezes his hand, lifting a finger to point at the front of the building.

A girl watches them, sucking on a lollipop and sitting down on the step up into the building’s door. She’s almost hidden in the shadows, on the edge of the streetlight’s light.

She’s not dressed for the weather, not really. A scarf is messily swung around her neck, but that does nothing when it’s midwinter, at night, and she’s only wearing a long-sleeve shirt and jeans. She’s still wearing indoor slippers.

She pulls the lollipop out of red, red lips, the type that pierce the black-and-white of the night, and waves her hand to the two of them.

Woojin lets go of Jeongin’s hand for the moment, and they walk up to meet her.

She keeps sitting when they approach, but leans back to see their faces better. “Chan hyung’s out so I’m here to greet you two. Name’s Minho.”

He somewhat gets the hyung, Woojin gets not wanting to seem like you’re dating your coworker, but Minho? A guy’s name? Yes, Woojin’s not used to cities, but—

“Minho?” Jeongin decides to voice his own thoughts.

Minho smiles her red, red lips very easily, “‘m a shapeshifter. Had a mission last night and didn’t want to shift back.”

Glancing over at him, Jeongin looks as confused as he is.

Minho glances between the two of them. “Guess I could have made things less complicated right away. Where’s the fun in that, though?”

Her hair seems to retreat, and her face restructures itself slightly, although it makes all the difference. _He_ still smiles just as easily. And instead of just the lips, his eyes smile as well.

He gets up, finally, and opens the door.

“Welcome to the house!” Minho shoves the two of them inside.

The light inside in softer, blurring harsh edges. Color seeps back into the walls and their faces.

For a moment, Minho glances back out the door, but quickly turns back to them and makes that same smile. Seeing it in better lighting, it’s beginning to look less and less genuine.

The entrance to the station is a narrow, and a metal spiral staircase blocks Woojin’s view of the end of the hallway. The wallpaper is a tacky dark brown peeling away in a few corners, its geometric design faded in some places.

At least the rug he stands on, albeit a little broke into, seems new.

“Shoe cupboard’s right there,” Minho directs them to a little cupboard hidden behind the open door as he closes it.

Seven of the cupboard’s nine cubes have names written on masking tape stuck to them, and five of those are full. The other two have “Chan” and “Changbin” scribbled down on their labels in the same scratchy handwriting.

Woojin moves to take off his shoes first, shoving them into an unnamed cupboard. Jeongin follows, but frowns and asks Woojin with a raised eyebrow what he thinks of this situation.

He pats Jeongin on the arm in what he hopes is a comforting enough gesture, and when they look over, Minho’s already waving to them from behind the staircase. He moves fast.

Jeongin fixes him with one last look and follows Minho. Woojin squeezes by the staircase behind them, and he has to work a little harder than the other two boys to get past it.

The room beyond is a little kitchen, where two backpacks hang off the chairs, and a third is sitting on its side on the counter, notebooks and pens spilling out of the unzipped top.

“Huh,” Minho comments, “thought I’d catch at least one of them here.”

At that moment, a door closes, and Woojin turns to see another tiny room branching off the kitchen, with a door leading somewhere inside it.

Standing at the door, a boy, caught red-handed, stares at them with wide eyes. Well, more orange-handed, with his hand stuck in the middle of a Doritos bag.

“Hi,” He mumbles through a mouthful of Doritos and gives the two newcomers a half-bow, trying to walk right past them before Minho grabs him by the hood of his hoodie and pulls him right back.

“I won’t say anything about that to Chan hyung, but you should at least greet our new members.”

“New members?” The boy finally gives another look to them, eyes scanning over Jeongin and Woojin. A small smile finally reaches the corners of his mouth.

“Hyunjin, Kim Woojin and Yang Jeongin,” Minho introduces them, “Woojin-ssi, Jeongin-ssi, Hwang Hyunjin. He uses fire, mostly.”

Said Hwang Hyunjin gives them a full bow this time, more directed at Woojin than Jeongin.

His smile is less coy, more true than Minho’s. “I read M.P.A.’s file on you two, I hope you don’t mind. Did you guys really come from one of those villages?”

Jeongin nods beside him.

When he was young, Woojin had no idea that not every mutant grows up in a village.

He mostly saw non-mutants on the few cartoons that aired close to his home on their old television. Whenever a mutant was included, they were always a villain from terrifying secluded mountain villages, mostly because mutants didn’t live to be adults outside villages or centers. If they did, they knew enough to not been found.

As he got older, he learned that there are sometimes mutants born in the cities, and find a way to survive. Generally, they’re considered the most dangerous.

In non-mutant households, they’re the boogeymans that were too terrifying to put on the children’s cartoons that Woojin watched.

And yet, he’s got at least one city mutant in front of him. And he’s still got all his fingers.

“What was it like?” Hyunjin asks, “Two of our members grew up in them, but Felix doesn’t like to talk about it and Chan was little so he doesn’t remember a lot.”

Woojin raises an eyebrow. He doesn’t hear a lot of stories where a family moves away from a village once they’re set in. Why would they, when they’re safer there?

“Everyone, um,” Jeongin stammers, “everyone knows everyone, so…”

“There’s no secrets in a village.” Woojin helps him explain, “Our village was part of a group that shared a school, but there was still, at most, ten in each grade.”

Hyunjin nods, pursing his lips. “That sounds like what little we’ve heard from Felix.”

A bang from upstairs causes everyone to jump, and Woojin hears a small “Sorry!” from its source.

“Well, you can grill them later,” Minho tells Hyunjin, patting him on the back and shoving him towards the table, “you study and I’ll go introduce them to the other terrors.”

Hyunjin gave them one last bow and a salute before Minho was pushing them up the stairs.

The staircase led up into another hallway, with four doors, three closed and one open on one side, and a closed one at the end of it. The one open door seemed to led into a bare room with another staircase.

“Jisung-ah!” Minho pounded on the door closest to them, “I have the new members so shut off your porn.”

“Ah, hyung!” The voice from earlier whines from the other side of the door, “Stop telling everyone I watch porn!”

Minho unwraps his scarf from his neck and winks at the two, opening up the door and shoving them in.

Inside, several monitors are lit up, some of them seem like CCTVs around the city, while others are lines of code. Sitting in the chair in front of all of them, a boy with blond hair peeks over at them.

He looks… like a squirrel.

“Woojin-ssi, Jeongin-ssi,” Minho has already walked across the room and hung himself over the back of the kid’s chair, somewhat choking squirrel boy with his scarf, “this is Han Jisung. He has some cool electrical shit so he’s our tech most of the time unless M.P.A. sends over a kid for training.”

“Hi,” Jisung sounds a bit strangled too, with Minho’s scarf swung around his throat.

“Hi—”

Instead of greetings, Jeongin gets down to the real business, “Did you fall or something earlier?”

“Listen,” Jisung starts, raising a hand like he’s about to lecture on astrophysics, “I have a lot of limbs, and sometimes they don’t consult each other.”

“He’s dumb and clumsy.” Minho ruffles Jisung’s hair with a hand and walks back over to Woojin and Jeongin, leaving the scarf around Jisung’s neck.

He goes to open the door, but it creaks open before Minho’s hand touches the knob.

Woojin almost has a heart attack at the two sets of curious eyes peeking around the door.

“Stop trying to give me an aneurysm or I’ll really give it to you.” Minho scolds, grabbing the door and flinging it open.

There’s two boys on the other side of the door, one with red hair and one with orange. The group must dye all their hair together.

“You’re the two from the village in Seorak?” Red hair asks, eyes calculating behind large-framed glasses. He doesn’t seem intimidated at all by Minho’s threat.

Orange hair, on the other hand, is glancing between red hair and the rest of them like he’s the one about to have an aneurysm.

“Ask questions later, Mr. Fanboy.” Minho dismisses his question before Jeongin and Woojin repeat that, yes, they are from a village, “This is Seungmin.”

“I’m Felix,” Orange hair introduces himself, reaching out a hand.

Woojin takes his hand and shakes it, although it seems a little odd to him.

The other village boy. The accent makes sense, especially if he came from Halla. Jeju kids speak a practically whole different language.

“And they’re Kim Woojin and Yang Jeongin so there’s that.” Minho says, and then shooes the other two away from the door.

“Your room might end up a little crowded,” He leads them down the hall in into a closed door, pausing with his hand on the door, “but we’ll figure out something.”

He opens up the door and lets them in first.

A few socks lie scattered across the place, but otherwise it’s cleaner than a room housing young adults has any right to be. Two bunkbeds are on opposite sides of the room, the top two bunks having various little things scattered across them.

“It’s a lot cleaner than I expected…” Jeongin mumbles, taking a seat on the bottom bunk of the left hand side bunkbed.

Minho laughed, “We forced them to clean it before you two showed up. Anyways—”

A notification dings from a phone.

“—you probably won’t meet Changbin until tomorrow.” Minho fishes his phone from his pocket, “This is his and Jisung’s room, so those two won’t be in until after you two fall asleep, unless you’re like them and run off of four hours of sleep.”

Minho’s smile becomes strained as he reads whatever the notification was for, and he shoves it back into his pocket.

“So you two can just hang out, I guess,” He tells them, “usually Chan hyung’s here to greet new members, but he had something, and I’m not especially good at this.”

Minho leaves them with that, closing the door silently behind him.

Woojin glances over to Jeongin, who replies with a raise of his shoulders in a ‘ _what can I say?_ ’ gesture.

He runs a hand with his hair, looking around the room and taking a seat on the bottom bunk across from Jeongin. He meets Jeongin’s eyes again from his spot on the bed.

Why did Jeongin feel the need to put himself in danger to get into a station? He knows the boy is taking some angle, felt something perhaps, but he doesn’t know how much Jeongin even knows what’s going on.

“Why?” He asks quietly.

Jeongin sets his lips into a straight line, casting his eyes down at his hands. “Always wanted to see Seoul.”

“No, you haven’t,” Woojin wants to laugh at the absurdity, “Who’s the one that kept telling me that it was so cliche when I wanted to go to the ‘Big City’ to sing?”

Jeongin shrugs, his fingers fidgeting.

So he’s seen something.

About Seoul?

“Did you dream again?” He leans in, elbows on his knees.

“I did. It was...” Jeongin starts, “something, about station 74B. I know my dreams aren’t ever good, but I wanted to try to go for it.”

Woojin frowns. Jeongin isn’t the risky type to say screw it and leave logic. Jeongin must have seen something else, but he isn’t telling him what it was. Was there a bad outcome he saw that he was trying to avoid?

Jeongin should know by now that they can never avoid them.

“I’m tired, hyung.” His words barely leave his mouth, and if he had been a touch quieter Woojin wouldn’t have heard, “Let’s leave the rest of this for morning.”

Woojin sighs, but lets him escape the conversation. Yang Jeongin isn’t one to be forced to talk.


	3. Mr. Pale Sleep Deprived Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so, woojin meets our one and only kangaroo leader
> 
> we'll see how this goes,,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((so '97 liners here are 2197, not 1997!! basically everything is moved up at least 200 years))

Woojin doesn’t know exactly what woke him.

Just, one moment, he was staring up at the bunk above him. A new sound of snoring permeates the room, and Woojin knows that Jeongin doesn’t snore.

Woojin sits up, careful of the bunk above him and making sure he doesn’t end up with a lovely little concussion. He imagines that would be a great first impression for whatever leader he was just assigned to.

Looking over, a new person slept in the bunk above Jeongin, a tuft of inky black and dark blue hair poking out from the comforter wrapped over them.

If “Changbin” is back, then the station’s leader is too, probably.

Woojin doesn’t even know enough to guess what sort of person the leader is. He knows at least an M.P.A. secretary is impressed by him, he’s got something against either something about Hyunjin or doritos or something about the two together, and he was gone when two new members came. What sort of person does that make Bang Chan?

The members he met today seem nice enough and have been able to get close to each other, but Woojin wasn’t with any of them for an adequate amount of time. Where will he and Jeongin fit in here? Will they?

Glancing down at Jeongin, he was deep in sleep, fully trapped within his blankets. What didn’t Jeongin tell him?

Something sits strangely in Woojin’s stomach, almost like nausea but without the discomfort. Dread? But that wouldn’t be a word good enough to describe it. It doesn’t account for the excitement balled up in the twists of his stomach. Normally he would settle for calling it anxiety, but something won’t let him.

He won’t get back to sleep unless he solves this.

Creeping out of his bed, he tip-toes out of the room, thankful that their door wasn’t the creaky devil that his old room had had.

The stairs aren’t easy to get down with no noise, the metal moaning under each step. But he thinks he succeeds in at least not waking anyone up.

He almost steps down into the entry hallway, but he hears the door open. Pausing, he keeps out of the sight of the door.

When the footsteps reach past the kitchen, Woojin follows them, but at a distance. He follows them to the small room in the kitchen, which finds out leads to both the pantry and another room, which he does not yet see very well.

He stops just outside the room when the footsteps stop.

“Minho,” A soft voice echoes in the room, and Woojin peeks his head around the corner.

It looked like a living room, with two couches and a few chairs spread around the room. A coffee table sits in the middle of the room, blanketed in notebook lined paper with scribbles that Woojin can’t make out.

Woojin can see the back of Minho’s head above a chair.

“I told you not to wait up for me,” Woojin looks at the voice’s owner.

His face is pale, but Woojin doesn’t know if he’s nervous or just that paper white. A slit runs through his eyebrow, and white hair forms like a halo around his head, but that doesn’t distract from the black circles stamped underneath his eyes.

What perhaps does distract him is the muscles Woojin sees underneath his long-sleeve shirt. He looks like he could beat Woojin into pieces... and maybe Woojin would be okay with that.

Minho mumbles something Woojin can’t mostly hear, but what he can hear makes little to no sense at best. Mr. Pale Sleep Deprived Angel seems to think that as well, a surprised laugh leaving his mouth.

“Let’s get you back upstairs.”

Woojin twists around, ready to run up the stairs to avoid being caught.

“Woojin-ssi!” And he was already caught. Great.

Well, there’s no saving it now, so Woojin turns back to the entrance of the room, fully letting himself be seen.

“Just Woojin’s fine, right?” The guy inside the room is in the process of getting a sleeping Minho onto his back, “We’re both ‘97, anyway.”

And now guessing game. Who is the guy standing in front of him?

Changbin must have already been back long enough to fall asleep again, and Woojin assumed Bang Chan was with him too. Then the leader should have already been back? Was there another member he wasn’t thinking of? Maybe he was a visitor?

No, apparently Minho was waiting up for him, so he must be staying in the station. But maybe he had set up a time to stay at the station? And it wasn’t confirmed that the leader _had_ been out with—

“Oh boy, you definitely think a lot,” He smiles, “I’m Chan. But really, you should share those brain cells with the rest of the station. The kids don’t have a lot that function anymore.”

What does Woojin… do? He bows, just in case he was supposed to be showing respect.

Chan laughs again, a breathless type of laugh that doesn’t make a lot of noise. “We’re not too formal here. I just wanted some help to open the doors for me. Don’t have any free hands.”

Holding Minho’s legs up so he stays on his back safely, yeah, Woojin can see that he doesn’t have any.

“How did you know it was me?” Woojin asks, letting him pass through into the kitchen first, “And not one of the others? Did you see me?”

Woojin can’t see his face when Chan responds, “I made the other boys promise to be in bed earlier tonight, and Minho was the only one I knew wouldn’t listen to me. And since I heard you on the stairs, and I didn’t think Jeongin was put down in his file as that big, I made an educated guess.”

They’re on the stairs before Woojin speaks up again.

“Are you usually so late?”

He doesn’t know exactly what prompted him to ask. Maybe it was the silence that sat between them?

“Not this late to the station, no.” He says, “But usually I have work to do around big missions so I’m up in the planning room until now anyways.”

Woojin takes that in and marks it down in his head.

“Don’t worry,” Chan turns his head and smiles at him again, “you’ll get enough of me during the day that you’ll never want to see me again.”

Chan leads them to the end of the hallway upstairs, stopping just before the door and letting Woojin open it for him.

“It’s a little hypocritical of me to say, but you should be getting some rest.” Chan tells him, “You have your first day tomorrow, after all.”

He walks into the dark room, flipping on the light switch and revealing a somewhat messy room with the same two bunkbed setup. Chan sets Minho down onto one of the bottom bunks, looking back up at Woojin, standing just outside the door frame.

“Wanna give me a hint what it’ll be?”

Chan walks back up to the door, leaning on the frame with his arms crossed over his chest and looking slightly up at Woojin.

He guides him away from the doorway with a hand, giving him a wink, “Wear some clothes you can move in.”

Then he shuts the door.

And so Woojin had his questions answered, and found he had plenty more questions he didn’t know he needed to ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i surprised myself with this chappie.... it wanted to be written........ it wasn't taking no for an answer


	4. Warm Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a filler chapter that lets you get a little better peek at the dynamics in the skz household
> 
> a.k.a. woojin's up now and chan's got eggs cookin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you guys notice any mistakes in my writing, please let me know!!!!! i don't do quite enough editing so sometimes things get messed up when i type too fast!!!!!!!!!!!! don't be scared to tell me!!

Jeongin and Changbin are up before Woojin is, and he tells by turning over and opening his eyes.

The upper bunk’s sheets and blankets are all thrown about, but he can’t see a person still stuck within them.

Jeongin’s bed is neatly made, looking exactly as it had when the two first entered the room last night. Woojin’s own mom used to hold up Jeongin as an example of a great boy, having a habit of remaking his bed the moment he got up. She was always on his case about how he, as the older one, “should be a good role model”.

He doesn’t have to wonder about whether she made it out or not. M.P.A. gave him the option of reading the file. He did.

A smoke out. Complete smoke out. Only three reported survivors.

Yang Jeongin. Kim Woojin. The 4 year old girl that lived next door, Jang Somi. She’s in a coma after all the smoke she breathed in.

At least it wasn’t a scouting. He can’t imagine the little boys and girls that he’s babysat over the years having to get tortured over and over again before whatever government center decided to kill them anyways. He’s heard enough, he should know not to envy them.

But in a scouting… there was a chance. A chance that not everyone was… gone.

Woojin doesn’t know how many days it’s been. It feels like a blur of days, of routine in the M.P.A. center they stayed at. Of repeating the same events over and over again. He wishes he could forget it all.

Forgetting it all started with starting something new, didn’t it? Maybe it was a good idea to join a station.

He gets up, getting strangely reminiscent of last night when he hears someone moving around downstairs. Changing into new clothes, he tries to figure out how many people he can hear.

He ends on... a lot.

He checks the bunk above him before he leaves the room, noticing that the blonde squirrel boy—Jisung, he reminds himself—was still curled up under the blankets. He wavers for a moment. Should he be waking up his bunkmate? It sounded like quite a few people were up downstairs, but Woojin settles for a no. He doesn’t know if Jisung has different schedule going on today, like Changbin and Chan did last night.

Chan. He still doesn’t know what to think of the station’s leader. Even after they met.

Especially after they met.

Shoving it to the back of his mind, he leaves the room, stepping down the stairs and walking to where he hears the most commotion.

“Hyunjin”—Woojin hears a few clangs and swears from the kitchen—”you’ve been told before, not in the kitchen!”

“You’re just jealous!”

He walks into a mess.

A small hole, black with ash and still smoking, is on the wall, next to two other identical but older holes.

Also smoking, Hyunjin’s _eyes_.

Woojin tries to understand what’s going on. Minho is yelling at Hyunjin from behind the counter that mercifully divides the kitchen, menacingly holding a spatula like he plans to do something extreme with it. Hyunjin is sitting at the kitchen table, arm loosely hung around Jeongin’s shoulder as he dares fate by smirking at a mutant with a weapon.

“You really didn’t have to…” Jeongin gulps, “blow a hole in the wall to show me your powers.”

Show-and-tell?

Just like Woojin, Seungmin watches from the other side of the table, although he has quite a bit more mirth in his eyes.

Next to Seungmin, a boy he assumes is Changbin is quickly devouring all the oatmeal in the bowl in front of him, not even paying attention to the chaos around him. He’s quite a bit smaller than Woojin imagined, not that he would tell him that. He looks a bit more dangerous than Minho and his spatula.

“Don’t even worry about it, cutie.” Hyunjin’s smirk turns on Jeongin as he pulls him closer. “You’re gonna have a blast here.”

“We don’t need another _blast_ of yours anywhere near here—”

“Well, Woojin,” He startles at the voice that suddenly pops up behind him, and turns his head to see Bang Chan slinking past him into the kitchen, a mug of probably coffee in his hands, “here’s your warm welcome to Chan’s kitchen. Though, if you don’t want a boiling hot welcome, you might wanna move. You’re in Hyunjin’s splash zone.”

He listens to him, shuffling into the kitchen and sitting down at the table, using Jeongin as a buffer between himself and Hyunjin.

Chan, on the other hand, walks over to Minho and plucks the shapeshifter’s weapon of choice out of his hand, moving back to the stovetop.

“Mornin’,” No longer distracted by Hyunjin’s antics, Minho is the first to greet Woojin, smiling like his anger left with his spatula, “We don’t have too much time so Chan hyung’s only making eggs.”

“If Chan’s the one cooking, then why are you…?” Woojin doesn’t really have the courage to finish his question.

Leaning back past Jeongin to see Woojin, Hyunjin gives him a stage-whisper, “He likes to seem important.”

“You little—”

“So Woojin hyung,” Seungmin smoothly intercepts Minho’s next outburst of anger, “was Jisung up when you left?”

Wait, so he was supposed to wake him up? ...Or? Oh no, he was supposed to wake him up, wasn’t he?

“The beauty has arrived!” At that moment, Jisung decides to burst into the kitchen and take Woojin’s mind away from his first mental breakdown of the day.

“Were you waiting until you heard your name?”

“Listen, when you’ve been in the biz as long as me, you know when someone’s got your name on their lips.” Jisung gives them all a smolder as he sits down next to Changbin, like he’s modeling for bedhead and comfortable-looking pajamas.

Seungmin doesn’t bother to respond to that, craning his head to try to look down the hallway. “Did you at least bring Felix with you?”

“He already ate.” Changbin’s voice surprises Woojin, coming up out of the blue, “he’s watching the screens right now until we leave.”

Leave? Did they have another mission?

“Alright!” Chan brings everyone’s attention back to the stovetop, instead of their own conversations at the table, “Woojin and Jeongin get first eggs because we’re going to be nice to our new members, yeah? These ones are sticking around, so no scaring them like the interns.”

He then calls them up to the stove top, gesturing to plates sitting beside the stovetop for them to grab. He plops down scrambled eggs on both of theirs and then lets them go back to the table.

“I should become a new member.” Woojin looks up to see Jisung licking his lips as he stares at his eggs.

“You’ve been waiting the shortest amount of time!” Hyunjin whines at him.

Chan calls back from stovetop with a “You’ll survive.” and then a “Eggs go faster after the first ones, after all.”

At last, after all the other members are sitting down with something to eat, Chan and Minho join them with their own eggs.

As Chan sits down next to Woojin and Minho hovers behind Changbin and Jisung as he leans against the counter, Minho directs a question to Jeongin and Woojin. “Has anyone told you what we’re doing today yet?”

“Not really.” Jeongin says next to him, and Woojin lifts his own head up to Minho to hear what’s coming next.

But instead of Minho, Chan continues, “Training today. We’re going to see how you work your powers, and get you some skills to use, so you don’t rely too heavily on them.”

And while that's all fine and dandy, Woojin almost failed out of Phy Ed. for a reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, hyunjin's done this every time a new batch of members came........ he gets.... excited.......


	5. 22160325

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> training room yee-haw
> 
> ((also woojin becomes a holy man, he'll have to wait for a baptism until next chappie tho))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i might have to drag this fic forever because i can never figure out what i wanna cut
> 
> on one foot, i want all the little station 74b dynamics and never want to have them get hurt ever (very unlucky), but on the other foot i am doing the hokey pokey and i'm turning myself all about
> 
> also i should be introducing their powers but they'll get to that by themselves, i guess

Breakfast is over in a flash after that, and most of the members leave to go get ready, abandoning Woojin and Jeongin with Chan and Changbin to clean up the plates because the four of them were already ready.

It takes another half hour of the other members bustling around the house and Woojin fiddling with his thumbs before all of them are ready to leave. Changbin even leaves early with the Halla boy, Felix, when he got too bored with waiting.

Woojin doesn’t know exactly where they’re going, but apparently somewhere for them to train. He can’t imagine a place anywhere in the busy city that they could practice their powers without being caught so he wonders if they might be driving out to the countryside.

Hyunjin is the last one to put his shoes on, yelled at by almost every other member before they step out the door.

“You think this beauty comes naturally?”

Another round of groans and complaints as they follow Chan down the sidewalk.

Are they walking to a pick up or to their actual destination? Would they be using the subways? It’d be Jeongin and Woojin’s first time on one of those.

To be honest, Woojin only has pictures making fun of weird costumes on the subway and maybe one scene in a drama as his guide to what a subway’s like.

“Is that a dig at Minho hyung?” Jisung barely gets his words out before Minho pushes him, hard enough to send him over to the edge of the sidewalk.

“Yah!” Minho points an accusing finger at Jisung, “This is basically my face and you know it!”

Chan snorts from in front, turning back to give Minho a pat on the arm. “You’re excited today, aren’t you?”

Woojin looks at Minho’s grinning face, trying to tell what’s real and what’s fake. His eyes? Chin? Nothing about his face looks that fake to Woojin (besides maybe the smile that keeps popping up), but neither did him being a girl when they first met. Does he just shift for no reason?

He’s met a shapeshifter before, had one living a few minutes away. But Im Nakwon preferred her true form, and when she did shift it was for jokes. She always said it did something to her when she shifted for others, to look “pretty” or whatever man or woman she was chasing after’s style.

_It didn’t just distort her form_ , she used to tell all the young girls in the village.

“Where are we going?” Jeongin glances up at Chan in the front while they wait for a pedestrian light at a corner.

The light turns on as Chan answers him. “M.P.A. are connected to a few training rooms around Seoul, and a friend I know runs one of them, so we train there.”

The morning commute traffic really slows down the group, the streets flooded with more cars than Woojin has seen in his life before this moment. He wonders how many of those people driving were mutants. Out of 100, maybe one?

When mutants first showed up, they were maybe 25 to 32 percent of the population, even higher closer to the supposed cause in Ohio. In some places in the 2050’s, they were even the majority, if you counted all the diluted mutants. Now, if Woojin remembers his stats and history class correctly, you’re lucky if you get close to the 9 percent mark in a census, and that’s in countries that have made deals with the other mutant agencies of the world.

The last generous estimate in Korea was around 0.7% in cities, 0.9% in townships and non-mutant villages.

And here he is. Part of the 0.7%. Surrounded by six other boys that are part of that same percentage.

He’d ask ‘what are the odds’, but he’s done enough math.

From the station to the training house, it was about 15 minutes.

“Here we are!” Chan announces, slowing down and meeting back up with Woojin and Jeongin in the back, “So we’ve read your files, but I know for a fact that M.P.A.’s not the best at description.”

He lets the other boys in first, and holds the door open for the two new members. “Our goal today is to specify your powers.”

The training room, it’s… disappointing, to say the least.

Woojin thought that for how exciting and big the city and M.P.A. seemed, they’d have a flashier entrance.

However, the training house’s lobby is barren, painted shades of white and light grey. Black grime seems to be spreading across the corners of the room, invading the dust bunnies’ natural habitat, and a few crumpled sheets of paper litter the floor.

It’s like nobody could be bothered to send literally anyone, let alone hire a janitor, to clean.

Woojin barely sees Seungmin’s shoelaces trailing behind him around a corner as the group leaves the three behind.

Jeongin stands next to him, wrinkles creasing his forehead as he looks around the room.

Woojin hears a small laugh behind him, and turns to see Chan grinning. “Every single one of you. Never fails. I don’t know if Jimin should be proud or offended.”

Jeongin raises an eyebrow.

“What?”

“M.P.A. doesn’t exactly want to _advertise_.” Chan slips between the two, heading around the corner Woojin saw Seungmin walk into, “Seems like a bad idea when your mere existence is illegal.”

He… has a point.

The two of them follow him around the corner, into a hallway lit by one flickering light panel. Its condition doesn’t seem a whole lot better than the entryway.

“Most training rooms have a cover, so you only walk into one if you know where you’re headed.” Chan explains, “This one is Park Jimin’s. She’s been operating it as a abandoned building for a year or so. Before that it was a apartment building.”

Jeongin points up to a camera Woojin didn’t see, put the darkest corner of the poorly-lit hallway, with a question on his face.

It has the N.T.P. stamp on it.

Why was there a National Threat Protection camera in a mutant training room? M.P.A.’s backyard didn’t seem like the place to let government surveillance flex its muscles. Particularly not that branch.

“A station used to operate from here, back in the apartment building days, and after their forced disbanding the N.T.P. made a deal about surveillance.” Chan frowns at the camera, not turning to the other two, “Jimin made sure to put it in a feedback loop. It doesn’t really film anything anymore.”

They reach the end of the hallway, and Woojin can see the metal doors on their right.

A password input panel, much more fancy than this place has any right to have, stares at them with a small red light reflecting off the zipper on Chan’s leather jacket.

“Password’s 22160325.” Chan tells them, his fingers dialing in the numbers, “We have it written down somewhere in the station, but you should memorize it as soon as possible.”

The panel’s light turns green and the door clicks. Chan turns to the two of them, giving them a cheeky smile with his hands on the door.

“Welcome to the training room, kids.”

He leans back, opening up the doors.

It’s huge.

Like, ridiculously.

Woojin thinks they might have a mutant bending the fabric of space to fit the whole room into the building he just saw. The dimensions make no sense to his mind.

There’s various little trinkets scattered everywhere, a bunch of weapon racks pushed around the room, and training mats covering the whole floor and half of the walls. In one corner, a net hangs from the wall, and near that there’s a small section coated in metal, where Hyunjin seems to be working on his laser-eyes trick.

Chan is reaching into another cabinet next to the entrance and shoving safety glasses into their hands before Woojin can take all of it in.

“You’ll want those if Hyunjin gets too rowdy.” Chan glances over at the metal unit, “And all the kids get a little more excited when there’s someone new, so I’d keep that in mind.”

Woojin and Jeongin pull on the safety glasses with no complaints.

“Jeongin first then,” Chan guides them to a relatively quiet corner, “any secondary powers?”

Secondary powers were common especially if you came from mixed mutant families, and a lot of village kids did. Even third powers weren’t super uncommon, especially diluted powers.

Yet, Woojin knows Jeongin has only one power.

And a whole lot of good it does them when Woojin doesn’t even believe him when it happens.

“No.” Jeongin shakes his head, glancing at Woojin.

Chan sits down on the training mat, offering with a gesture for them to join him. They take it.

“How do you get your precognitions?” Chan asks, “Seizures? Dreams? I had a friend in M.P.A. who got them whenever he ate fire noodles.”

Jeongin smiles faintly at the (probably) joke. Woojin doesn’t think there’s actually a mutant like that out there, but the way Chan says it seems like it could be true.

“Dreams.” Jeongin says quietly. He looks away from Chan’s eyes, resting his head on a fist.

Chan takes a moment before he asks again, looking at Jeongin’s expression. “Did you come from a mixed mutant family? Maybe a little old, but you’re still at an age that it’s possible for powers to show up.”

“I, uh,” Jeongin stumbles over his words, and Woojin almost wants to butt in and answer for him, keep him away from scorn from their new leader, “I don’t know? I don’t think so.”

But, surprising Woojin, Chan doesn’t seem to judge, nodding his head slightly. Woojin can almost see the thoughts running across his face.

“I guess we have that in common, kid.” Chan smiles slightly, and then turns his gaze to Woojin. “Well, big guy, Mister Waterworks.”

Woojin has a miniscule heart attack as Chan’s eyes met his.

“You make your water or do you need it to work?” He asks, and Woojin finds out he is somewhat surprised by the normalcy of the question.

With that tone, he was wondering if Bang Chan had something _in mind_ for him. Or was he hoping?

Woojin has always been a man weak for muscle.

“It gets,” Woojin tries to figure out how to word it, “it gets stronger around more water. But even without a lake around, I can usually pull water out of the moisture in the air.”

“Is humidity important, then?” Chan’s forehead creases as he stretches his neck, trying to figure out what Woojin meant.

A yell sounds out from the other end of the training room, Woojin thinks it might have been a word, but he definitely hasn’t heard it before. He looks back to Chan, who doesn’t seem to react to it at all.

Then he looks at Jeongin, who wears Woojin’s own expression. So he wasn’t imagining things.

Chan notices their confusion and explains, “That’s just Felix being loud. He gets into it when he’s training.”

Woojin presses his lips into a straight line. He thought someone was being tortured, to be honest.

“Reminds me,” Chan says, “Jeongin, you should practice with Changbin.”

“Changbin-ssi?” Jeongin asks.

“You can just call all of us comfortably.” Chan huffs out a laugh, “Our last youngest was Seungmin and he’s ‘00.”

That leaves them with ‘01 to ‘97 then, since he hasn’t seen Chan call anyone hyung yet. Woojin wonders momentarily what the normal age for the kids to join is. Oh god, is he old?

“Anyways,” Chan continues, “Changbin is our go-to for fighting without powers. He might be helping Felix too, but he could still teach you a few things about the knives.”

“What’s his power? Changbin, I mean.” Woojin asks.

For a moment, looking at Chan’s expression, he wonders if he asked something wrong. Is Changbin not a mutant? Do they even allow non-mutants into M.P.A. stations?

“He’s,” Chan turns back to look in the direction of the yell from earlier, “he just prefers not using his.”

Then, like it never happened, Chan looks back at them and smiles.

It’s a Minho-esque smile that makes Woojin wonder which one was mirroring the other.

“Let’s set you up with Changbin first,” Chan tells Jeongin, standing up and stretching his arms above his head until even Woojin can hear a pop from his back, “then I can assist hunky here.”

Jeongin gets up quickly to follow Chan to the back, and Woojin trails behind with a frown.

On the other side of the room, He can see Felix and Changbin, one of them sitting down. When they get closer, Woojin sees the orange hair. It’s Felix, head bowed and panting heavily, resting in the middle of the white circle painted onto the mats.

Changbin’s gaze hovers on Felix, eyes dark and breaths hardly heavier than they were at breakfast, though he can see the boy had broke a sweat.

Changbin is the one to notice them first, not caring to bow like Hyunjin did or even really paying attention to the two new members.

“Chan hyung.” Changbin tilts his head to meet eyes with the leader.

“New addition, don’t tear off his head trying to look cool.” The mood is shattered by Chan’s nonchalant statement, who turns to Jeongin with a wink, “Don’t be too scared of Binnie.”

Felix looks up at Chan’s voice, and Woojin sees the sweat drenching the front of his shirt and sliding down his forehead. Just how hard has they been going at it to sweat out enough water for the Mediterranean Sea? Scary short boy and Halla boy didn’t leave too much before them, beating them out of the house by maybe half an hour.

“Welcome,” Felix says breathlessly, his head swinging back down as he tried to gain his breath back, although he threw up a hand for a high-five.

“Nice to meet you?” Jeongin takes the high-five, although it was awkward enough to make Woojin wince.

“Yeah,” Woojin hears the amount of effort Felix’s attempt took him.

Chan is dragging him away just long enough to hear (or rather, not hear) the deafening silence between the three. He worries he may have just left Jeongin in shark-infested waters.

“Don’t pity him just yet.” Chan tells him with a dangerous smile on his face, “You haven’t see what I’m going to do to you.”

Woojin decides right there that he is a holy man and will not succumb to these odds.

...God, Jeongin has to stop making him play with fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this may have taken a bit longer to write, but at least it's a bit longer too 
> 
> another note: i may have finally decided what i want to do with this story so YE


	6. You Can't Build An Empire In A Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the training room has a pool, imagine that,,,,,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was originally supposed to be longer, but here's this anyways!!!!

Water droplets slice his cheek, fast like chunks of ice pelted at him. Even pushing with all the strength he can muster, they fling back at him, sending him barreling backward.

Splash.

His mind goes blank as he plummets into the pool. The sudden submersion wipes away his thoughts, but he recovers after a few moments.

He knows enough not to try to open his eyes underneath the water, how horrible the chlorine would be on his eyes. Instead, he swims up and blindly searches for a ledge to hang off of.

Oh, found one. With his head.

He quietly groans at the sudden pain and grips the ledge to hold him up in the water.

“You good?”

He wipes off his eyes with a palm, cracking one open to find Chan extending a hand to him. Although somewhat tempted to just drag Chan into the water with him, he decides quickly that no, he’ll do this the right way and earn victory properly.

He takes Chan’s hand, and lets him help him back up onto the floor.

“I’ll be good when I finally get you wet,” Woojin grumbles.

Chan laughs at him, “That’s the spirit.”

He’s been practicing with Chan for a long enough time that the fact that he hasn’t managed to even land a drop on the station’s leader is a little embarrassing.

Chan brought them over to the swimming pool in one of the training room’s back rooms so he could use it, and he still hasn’t gotten anywhere!

The reason? It’s something that Woojin became _quite_ acquainted with today. Bang Chan has telekinesis. Strong telekinesis. Apparently strong enough to just entirely override Woojin’s own power with it. And perhaps trample all over Woojin’s pride as a water element-based mutant.

“Try again, Woojin,” Chan encourages him with a dimpled smile, “this time try to pick up more. That’ll make it harder for me.”

“You keep saying that, but…”

“You won’t get me wet”—Chan muffles another laugh with the back of his hand hiding his mouth—“unless you keep going at it.”

Woojin glares at him, but gets up and shoves his soaked hair out of his face with a hand.

“Let’s get it,” Chan shuffles back, allowing some space between the two of them.

Woojin breathes deeply, closing his eyes and locating the water. He takes his time, feeling out its presence.

Then he scoops out at least half the pool, heaving it across the room with all his strength.

For a moment, he only feels the adrenaline, like all the blood rushed to his head. It’s a weightless feeling, where he feels like he couldn’t be contained in his body, his soul wanted to escape.

Then, something slams into the water, stopping it in its tracks like an immovable wall.

Woojin opens his eyes to see Chan standing on the other side of the room, not even lifting a hand.

His horizontal column of water sits stagnant a few feet in front of Chan.

Woojin pushes again, but the only thing that happens is that the water swirls within itself, unable to go any further.

And suddenly, he’s back at the start, with his water thrown back into his face. But this time, he manages to toss the water sideways back into the pool and not himself.

Woojin just stares at Chan for a moment, frustrated that he’s breathing heavily and Chan looks like he hasn’t even put any effort in. And he knows that if he hadn’t just taken a little swim in the pool, the sweat trailing down his forehead and staining the front of his shirt would have been more obvious.

Exhaustion from the amount of water he just lifted starts to set in, and Woojin can feel it rattling in his bones and sinking into his stomach.

Regardless of how tired he is, he needs to win this.

But before either of them can do anything more, the door to the rest of the training room is opening and Minho’s poking his head in, “Chan hyung, Park Jinyoung’s looking for you. The asshole one. Something about meeting a Jisoo-ssi?”

“Thanks, Minho,” Chan pulls a towel off the rack behind him, tossing it over to Woojin before he continues, “Are the others still here?”

“Changbin left with Felix a bit ago,” Minho answers, glancing back out the door, “so he set Jeongin up with Hyunjin and Seungmin. I think they’re still here, but they’re more messing around than anything. Me and Jisung were about to head out back to the station.”

Chan nods, and Minho starts to close the door behind him as he leaves.

“Make sure you rest some, Minho!” Chan calls out before he’s entirely gone.

Minho yells back as he walks out of earshot, “I will!”

Woojin looks back at Chan, trying to figure out if that means they’re done or not. The obvious answer is yes, but Woojin would rather figure out how to beat him first.

Chan walks up to him, giving him a pat on the back and explaining, “I have to go to Seoul HQ, so this is it for today. If Minho doesn’t, make sure to tell the others I might not be home until late again.”

“I think I might stay back and practice for a bit,” Woojin says, turning back towards the pool, “I know the way back to the station, and if I get lost I have at least Jeongin to call.”

“You’re not gonna build an empire in a day,” Chan advises, walking back over to the door, “and practicing until you sprain something just holds you back. You’re better off resting for the rest of today and getting to know the members.”

And with that, he’s leaving the back room.

Woojin feels... something.

He’s always understood his water element, even was proud of it. At a certain time in his childhood he was maybe a bit arrogant about it.

But having someone that just… took away his command? It was frustrating and irritating and harassed his ego. It makes him question how much effort he put into his training.

Village power training was always about disciplining your power, learning how to hide it in front of non-mutants and how to use it for everyday things. Woojin had learned to use his for irrigation, although he never really did since when he mastered it his father’s farm was already gone.

He never learnt it to be powerful. It was a whole different scene to learn it for fighting.

Relearning your power in a day? Woojin had to admit, Chan was right. It just wasn’t going to happen like that.

He…

He should probably at least check on Jeongin. He didn’t know if he trusted Flaming Eyes and Red Hair around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully next chappie wooj learns more about the kids,,,,, i thought i knew what i was going to do but then woojin slapped me and said that he was controlling the show now


	7. Immersion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> walking home with part of baby line and talks of showers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ya boy's tried editing this chapter,,,,, but somehow it seems worse than the others,,,,,,,,,, oh well
> 
> while this chapter was hard to write, hopefully i'll get back into it for the next one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeongin’s laugh was the first thing he heard when he took a step out of the back room. For a moment, he thought it was someone screaming, but then he recognized Jeongin’s old dolphin laugh. He really hasn’t heard it enough recently.

Looking to see what’s going on, he sees Hyunjin dodging darts made of ice in some perversion of a dance in the metal section of the training room. His movements are somewhat in time with the music blaring from the phone sitting in front of him, but he’s definitely taking _artistic liberties_.

Loosely holding the phone in his left hand, Seungmin crouches down next to Jeongin and shoves the arrows he’s crafting into Jeongin’s gloved hands with his right hand. However, rattling his body completely, Jeongin’s laughs prevent any sort of tomfoolery from his hands.

“Come on, Jeongin!” He hears Seungmin press, “Hit him in his stupid face!”

“You love this face!”

Seungmin sets down the phone to point out Jeongin’s target with his left hand as he throws another with his other hand, “And?”

Well, Woojin wasn’t an absolutely horrible babysitter.

Jeongin wasn’t the dart board, at least.

Hyunjin is the first of the three to spot Woojin, calling out as he turns to avoid another shot, “Woojin hyung!”

The other two twist around to welcome him, Jeongin showing off his new weapons and Seungmin giving him a quick, distracted wave.

“We were waiting for you— _Seungmin, I swear_ ,” Hyunjin dodges again and darts over to Woojin, ” _I’ll tell Chan hyung on you_ —so we could all head back to the station together. But then Minho hyung and Jisung abandoned us, and now Seungmin keeps trying to kill me.”

Hyunjin hides behind Woojin’s shoulders from Seungmin and his endless supply of pointy projectiles and whines into Woojin’s ear, “Hyung, save me.”

.....

Every year, without fail, Woojin relearns that the sun sets very quickly in winter. The sun had only started its journey in the sky when they left the station, they had only been in the training room a few hours, and yet only a small sliver of the sun peeks above the horizon.

The dwindling sunset paints the streets in rich shades of red and orange, joined by a few streetlights dotting the streets, some off and some on. The shadows circling the still-dark streetlights act as black ink, blotting the alleys they roam out of existence.

Up ahead, Seungmin drags Jeongin from shopfront to shopfront, pointing out his favorite shops and doing some form of extreme window-shopping.

Hyunjin is somewhat less excitable, hanging back with Woojin and instead just offering an encouraging smile when one of the two puppies up front turn back to check on them.

It’s been a while since Woojin’s been able to see Jeongin so excited, even back before what happened.

“City’s different, isn’t it?” Hyunjin bumps Woojin’s shoulder with his own playfully as they survey the two weaving in and out of shops.

Woojin takes his time to think, “I haven’t been able to see a lot of it yet.”

Hyunjin nods, turning his gaze away from Woojin and setting his lips in a straight line.

Silence sulks between them for a little bit, the air heavy like a soggy dog. It was like gravity had decided to work harder right where Woojin stood. It really wasn’t a silence he was comfortable with leaving.

He searches for anything to pierce the stagnant air.

Chan did say to get to know the others, right?

“What are the other members like?”

Hyunjin tilts his head, biting his lip and crossing his arms over his chest, “The other members…?”

They walk as Hyunjin prowls around his mind for an answer.

“Seungmin’s as good a place to start as any, I guess,” Hyunjin pushes back his hair with a hand, letting it stay there for a moment before he releases it again with a heavy exhale, “he came from a town close to Seoul. He’s fun until you make him mad, then you should be careful about your cereal and showers for a week or so. Him and I entered together, apparently we joined M.P.A. around the same time.”

He watches as a tiny smile tugs at Hyunjin’s lips.

“He used to be worse at the start. Station 74b’s devil child. But he’s calmed down a bit since Felix came around.”

Woojin helped him along, “And Felix?”

Hyunjin’s smile gets a little wider, less shy as Halla boy gets mentioned.

“Felix was our newest before you and Jeongin,” Hyunjin explains, “the sunshine of our station. Chan hyung’s been helping him because he doesn’t know a lot of standard Korean. He speaks more Jeju dialect, but he’s kind of sensitive about it.”

Woojin notes it down in his mind.

“Apparently Chan hyung and Felix came from around the same part of Jeju, so he was sent to our station. Those two were our only village members before you guys came along.”

“Really?” He knows someone mentioned it before, but he still has a hard time realizing so many city mutants exist.

Is this just a station with a bigger number of them? Or is this how all stations are?

Hyunjin laughs, “Even though no one but Minho hyung himself really knows where Minho hyung comes from, we all know it’s just a town or city or something. If you got a guess which one, you can put it in the raffle Jisung started. It’s got quite a bit in it now.”

“You can’t just look at his files?”

“Well,” Hyunjin smiles over at Woojin, “Minho hyung was backup for a lot of stations before he settled into this station. Chan hyung didn’t really need to show his file to Jisung or Changbin hyung for them to know him, so we don’t really know what was in it.”

“What about Chan then? Didn’t you say only Minho himself knows?”

“Chan hyung put his own bet in, and I assume he wasn’t being a dick, so I’m guessing it probably wasn’t in there.”

The shops are starting to thin out in front of them, and Woojin realizes they’re getting close to the station.

“Minho hyung just doesn’t say it because it’s funny to see all of us guess, I think. He’s like that.”

Woojin’s mind flashes back to his first encounter with the mutant.

_Minho glances between the two of them. “Guess I could have made things less complicated right away. Where’s the fun in that, though?”_

Woojin admits, he does seem the type.

“Anyways, he was the first addition before me and Seungmin. Before that, it was just Chan hyung, Changbin hyung, and Jisung.”

Three people running a station? Must not have been too long a time. Woojin can see why more members were assigned.

“I’m gonna guess you know enough about Chan hyung from this morning,” Hyunjin cracks a shit-eating grin that makes Woojin suspect he knows enough about what training with Chan is like, “so I’ll move on. Jisung’s our tech. He’s fun and the easiest to clown. And Changbin hyung’s a dork, even though he likes looking scary. He’s not that dark.”

Hyunjin whispers to him as they cross the street to the side the station sits on, as if Changbin could hear them from inside, “The guy does aegyo every other second when he gets used to you.”

Seungmin and Jeongin wait for them by the door, the four of them reentering the station together.

As they shove their shoes into the cupboard, muted bass from a song being played upstairs pulses in the walls like a heart. Woojin couldn’t decipher any lyrics or even a melody, but the thin walls acted like a whole party was going on upstairs.

“You think there’s a new mission?” Hyunjin’s hushed voice barely reaches Woojin’s ear.

The moment he finally gets his shoes into the cubby and he looks over, Seungmin and Hyunjin are already migrating toward kitchen.

“Chan hyung and Binnie hyung _just_ came back…” Seungmin’s voice tapers off as the two walk out of earshot.

Changbin… he was the one that Jeongin was assigned to. He wonders how Jeongin’s own training was. Was it as hard as it looked? How did it compare to his fun experience with the station’s leader?

He looked to Jeongin, but the boy was already following the other two mutants into the kitchen, an echo of a smile still playing with the corners of his eyes.

Nevermind then.

Would it be weird if he followed them too?

Woojin decides quickly that, yes, trailing in after him and acting like Jeongin’s embarrassing uncle would probably not help him. He didn’t need that awkward silence in his life.

Instead, he heads up the stairs into the room he had slept in last night.

The music gets somewhat louder as he steps onto the second floor, but it sounds like it’s coming from the next level up. Probably comes from a third level, maybe wherever the second staircase leads to.

As he carefully pulls open the door and takes a tentative step in, he immediately notices the mutant facing away from the door, sitting on the bed that Jeongin slept on. Seo Changbin’s got his phone up to his ear, right below damp blue and black hair.

Not seeming to notice Woojin, he grumbles into the receiver, “Hyung, you can’t pass this onto another station? We don’t even have a lead here and nobody’s been able to take a breath since we took on that bastard, least of all you—”

Changbin gets cut off, and Woojin takes the pause to return back on the other side of the door, letting it slip shut.

He doesn’t want to eavesdrop…

But he does want to know what’s going on.

“Whatever, you’re fine and all that.” Changbin’s dismissal is quieter through the door, but still audible, “But even I’ve seen it, alright? You guys are straining yourselves. And I know you know burnout isn’t something to joke around about.”

Woojin swears, he doesn’t mean to stick by the door any longer than that, but…

Another long pause before Changbin speaks again.

“Let the kids start getting more involved, hyung. Not Felix, obviously, but Hyunjin and Seungmin are ready for it. They’re at their plateau. They won’t get any better unless you let them do more. That’s my condition if you really want to keep this target.”

An equally long pause separates his words, and Changbin’s voice is even quieter the next time he talks.

“I love you too, hyung. Be careful and get home early. I called your bed tonight.”

Okay, Woojin thinks it’s safe to go back in.

He opens the door, this time greeted by a nod from Changbin, who stares right back down at his phone the second after he acknowledges him.

Changbin’s shoulders are tense, and his brows are knitting themselves into a severe frown that wrinkles his forehead. It doesn’t take a genius to see the worry imprinted into his body.

Woojin ignores his own concern rising to meet Changbin’s, and instead sits down on his own bed.

There’s something that’s going on in the station, but Woojin doesn’t know what to make of it. Is it something he’s going to need to figure out? Will it all just come as they go?

He… He’ll let it come. He doesn’t have the energy to worry about it, exhaustion settled into his bones. He didn’t realize he’d be so thankful for the soul-sucking morning training.

A creak turns Woojin’s head back up. Changbin’s slipping out of the door, hand already on the knob.

Woojin looks back down at his hands.

The door’s groaning hesitates.

“Hey,” Changbin mumbles his first words to Woojin, “take a shower here eventually. You smell like chlorine.”

And then the door swings closed with a loud squeak.

He’s got a point. Before Woojin can run any more mental laps, he should take Changbin’s advice and stick himself in a shower for at least an hour, if not a couple of days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm guessing the "who" on the phone is pretty obvious for yall,,,,,,, a bit of a warning, next chappie might have a time skip so we'll see,,,,,,,,
> 
> so how have yall been??


	8. Bonus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> little bit of chan pov and background

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this wasn't supposed to be written but!!!!!!
> 
> i swear i'm trying to stay mostly in one pov,,,,,,,, but i think i'll be puttin some more in there

_“Chris,” He sighs out his name, “what did I tell you would happen? You were getting better, too.”_

_His form is blurry behind Chan’s headache, vaguely outlined by the red lights buzzing behind their cages._

_The alarm shouldn’t have gone off. It shouldn’t have. He detailed everything down to the number of times they would breathe._

_Bambam should have made it out. Did any of the rest of them? Jihun, Jimin?_ Wooseung and Chan _were_ the last supposed to leave _, a hopeful voice whispers in his mind._

_The ward switches on the light and Chan squeezes his eyes shut. Too bright._

_But he needs to figure out where he is. He forces his eyes back open._

_Tiled floor. Dark red and black grime. Clinical white light, burrowing into his aching head and making his ears ring. A filthy drain that sits in the center of the room, two steps in front of him._

_They took him to one of the solitary rooms. A 50-50 chance._

_Soon Ward Lim’s close enough that Chan’s functional eye can focus on him and the disappointed look in his eyes. “I voted that we keep you, you know?”_

_Lim shoves his face into Chan’s._

_“I reasoned with them for you,” Lim’s breath assaults his face, “told them that you can’t blame an animal for doing what its nature tells it to.”_

_Chan picks a spot to put his eyes, somewhere on the wall behind Lim’s grinning face. He already knows it’s time to tune out of what’s going on._

_“You can only discipline it not to do it again.”_

\-----

Chan’s lungs shudder as his breath catches in his chest.

It takes him a few moments to pull it back under control, to quiet his raspy breaths and stop gulping down air. It takes a few more for the sounds to fade away and leave him alone.

He tries to sit up, to get some bearing on himself, but instead notices the bodies clinging off his.

Changbin’s pressed tightly against his side, head resting in the crook of Chan’s neck like how he went to sleep. His breaths warm Chan’s shoulder, and the steady rising and falling of his member’s chest does some to assuage the panicky feeling squabbling around his head like it owns the place.

He must have picked up Jisung sometime during the night because he certainly didn’t remember Jisung being there when he went to sleep. The boy probably slipped out of his room and wrapped himself around Chan’s middle halfway through the night.

Both of them seem asleep still.

Chan glances over at Minho’s bed and notes Minho’s absence. He’d have to ask him about it in the morning.

Although a little concerned where Minho’s gone off to, he’s thankful he didn’t wake up any of the members with his nightmare. He’s only done it once or twice, back when it was only four of them in the station. It’s nothing compared to some of the kids, but he doesn’t want to repeat the experience. Trying to get the kids off his back for the next few days wasn’t a fun time.

Relaxing back into the bed and absentmindedly stroking Jisung’s hair, Chan rationalizes his dream.

It wasn’t Woojin’s training. He refuses it. He hasn’t even been touched by a drop of water this whole time. It’s not like that dream is entirely uncommon, anyways. It’s possible his mind was just thinking about it regardless of Woojin. It’s somewhat close to that time of year.

He doesn’t have an issue, and if he does then he’ll have to work through it. He got through it before, he can do it now.

He has enough to worry about already, so he doesn’t know why his brain is piling more in. He has a goddamn mission to outline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do yall think about multiple povs???? like if i pulled some chan and jeongin into here????????????


	9. Debriefing, Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hhhhhhhhhhhhhh,,,,,,,,,, missions are finalized and our target is named!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first part could have been worked more on....... but i think i'd only get more tired............
> 
> also first scene is totally inspired by tumblr incorrect quote memes, just getting that out of the way now
> 
> some notes: 
> 
> gold spoon - like the phrase "being born with a silver spoon in your mouth", being born into a rich family  
> national assembly - legislative body of south korea ((ig they just,,,,, never rejoined north korea oops))

“Hyung, watch how fast I can drink this!”

Felix grabs the two straws in his hands, looking up at Changbin next to him as he slurps up the smoothie in his hands.

Woojin cautiously reaches out a hand across the table, “Felix, be careful—”

Like fate, Felix chokes.

Changbin laughs softly, patting Felix on the back, “Very impressive. Show that off next time and I’m sure Chan hyung will give you a part in the next mission.”

“Hyuuung,” Coming out of his coughing fit, Felix whines, “I really am ready for it.”

Woojin glances over at Minho next to him, who watches Changbin and Felix’s conversation with the same amount of interest he gives paint drying. Maybe less. It’s kind of hard when Minho’s face is Fort Knox half the time.

But at least now he understands why Minho invited him out to the smoothie place with the three of them.

“I’m sure you’ll get there eventually, Lix.”

That asshole didn’t want to third wheel alone.

“Woojin hyung,” He may be mad at Minho, but he’s a little grateful he at least pulled it back out of their shameless flirting, “How’s training been? Managed to throw Chan hyung in yet?”

Nevermind. Woojin’s grateful for nothing.

Minho smirks at his last question. He knows goddamn well that Woojin has been _baptized_ almost every day of the past two weeks.

He’d been involved for a little bit in his training last week for Woojin to practice his aim on a target that won’t throw his water back at him, but recently it was back to just Woojin and Chan. But those training sessions were enough for Minho to understand what the goal is.

Woojin takes a sip before answering, “It’s... a work in progress. I’ve been able to hold him at bay for longer.”

Minho’s smirk doesn’t fade until Felix is talking again.

“I should have insas-insis—” Felix stumbles over the word.

“Insisted?” Changbin asks.

“Yeah, thanks, Binnie hyung.” Felix quickly recovers, “Anyways I should have insisted on training with Channie hyung.”

Minho laughs at Changbin trying to quickly sputter out an offended response.

“I-I just helped you!”

“If I had trained with Channie hyung,” Felix gestures with one of his straws, “then maybe he’d let me go earlier.”

From what Woojin’s seen, he’s quite certain that would not have happened.

While Chan seems to treat all his members like his children, with a few of the members… it could barely classify as an exaggeration. If not for the issue of them being only three years apart, he would have to see a DNA test to believe Chan and Felix weren’t father and son.

Given, Woojin doesn’t understand what all the two say to each other, with some of the conversations being muttered dialect, but generally it doesn’t seem that he would even consider Felix for a role in a mission yet. And for good reason. Even Woojin knows how dangerous missions could be.

Maybe it was the Halla accent and the way he stumbles over his words sometimes, or maybe it was the freckles, but either way, something about Felix made everyone want to take care of him.

Combine that with Changbin and even the other ‘00 kids, Jeongin’s more likely to be picked first for an active part in a mission.

“Sure,” Minho agrees, one of the corners of his lips quirking up, “and I’ll get Hyunjin to smoke those flying pigs for breakfast.”

Before Felix can whine out another “Hyung”, Minho’s phone goes off.

Woojin glances over, getting a peek at the caller ID, “It’s Chan.”

“Chan hyung, Minho hyung brought us into a strip club!” Changbin calls out as Minho answers and pulls it up to his ear..

Felix laughs and decides to follow Changbin, “Minho hyung stabbed Woojin hyung!”

Minho shushes them with a glare, stepping out of his chair and over to the bathrooms.

“But really,” Felix, for once, looks to Woojin for an answer, “why don’t they let me?”

Woojin doesn’t know why he’s asking him. He really doesn’t even know how Chan divides his missions. He doesn’t even know what _kind_ of missions Chan’s been working on.

Changbin saves him from answering, “You know healing powers are rare around here. Are we supposed to just risk one of our best assets?”

Felix pulls his straw back up, ready to whip it around more, but as he only gets as far as opening his mouth.

“Chan hyung finalized the mission,” Minho swipes his smoothie off the table, “so we’re taking this freak show on the road.”

The mission. The one that Chan and Changbin have been stressing over for the past week. Will Woojin finally get a look at it?

Changbin must think the same way, gesturing his head to the other two at the table in a not-so-subtle question to Minho.

“All-members-included debriefing in”—Minho’s eyes flicker to the clock hanging off the wall—”an hour. You all still need to get showers, so let’s get moving.”

.....

Station 74b’s official debriefing room is on the third floor, the only part of the station that Woojin hasn’t taken upon himself to explore yet.

Woojin wasn’t certain what he was expecting, but for some reason it was not a huge mess.

Well, he means, he’s sure the members involved in planning missions can find their stuff, but really?

A large table sits in the middle of the room, covered front-to-back, side-to-side in sheets of paper and smattered with a few pictures in the mix. Wide whiteboards hang on each of the walls, excluding the one with the door, each of them scribbled on until there’s no space left. It feels like the room is already overflowing without all the members there.

Within the whiteboards is probably the neatest part of the room. A section in the center of the whiteboard opposite to the door seems recently wiped off, with an empty timeline sitting in it and a few pictures shoved to its edges.

Most of the writing next to that clear space is the same handwriting scratched into the shoe cupboard, spanning a whole board and a half in a blue marker. Next to it and sometimes squashed between it, a few other colors weave into the planning, each in a different handwriting. Overall, he sees three, maybe four, different writers.

The room only gets messier as more of the members pile in. Woojin called the shower first, so he was one of the first ones after Minho and Jisung. Chan himself didn’t show up until a minute or two before the debriefing was scheduled, after Changbin and Felix came up.

The last to arrive are Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Jeongin.

“You aimin’ to break the tardy record?” Changbin calls over at the door, “Only a few more minutes and you could beat Jisung’s!”

The late three had formed their little squad over the past few weeks, and Woojin hasn’t been able to get a hold of Jeongin without the other two outside of the nighttime for a full week at least.

He’s glad Jeongin’s fitting in well, but fifteen minutes have passed since the meeting was supposed to be held. If Woojin was either of their moms, he’d be hemming and hawing about how those two boys were such bad influences. But really, he’s not mad… just disappointed.

Hyunjin sets his backpack down onto the table, “Got stuck on the metro.”

Seungmin’s lips twitch, and he scratches his nose as he takes a seat next to Jisung and Minho, who don’t seem to notice anything else happening outside of their own little world. And Woojin doesn’t even have to have his decade of Jeongin knowledge to recognize the kid trying to hold in his laughter.

“Uh-huh,” Changbin’s eyes sweep away from Jeongin and Seungmin and level Hyunjin with a look, “I’m sure you did.”

“Alright,” Chan interrupts the two, “do I need to take roll call or can I just start?”

“Go for it, hyung,” Minho pulls away from his conversation with Jisung.

Chan nods, slipping to the back in front of the main whiteboard.

He pops off the cover of a blue marker between his teeth, “So our latest target is Assemblyman Lee. A real piece of work, this fellow.”

He pulls down a picture from the edges to the top of the cleared section, scribbling in _Lee Seonbaek_ above it.

Woojin narrows his eyes, staring at the picture. The smiling old man with plenty of crow’s feet and not enough hair staring back at him is familiar, but he can’t place it.

“Wasn’t he one of the ones backing C.F.K.?” Hyunjin scowls as soon as he says the words, “Why doesn’t M.P.A. already have his ass in a jail cell?”

C.F.K.… That’s right!

Woojin has never been one for politics, but every mutant knew when C.F.K. was passed through the National Assembly. He even remembers how old he was and what he was doing when he found out.

He was fifteen, and babysitting Noh Jina for her father. He had just put her down for a nap and was excited because Noh Kwansoon’s house was one of the only ones with a working TV. He regretted turning on the news.

A Clean Future for Korea, as the government called it, was just another facet for genocide. They murdered or captured all children of mutants, and it required the parents of mutants to be tested and murdered if they didn’t pass as completely normal. And even if they were, they… sterilized them.

It was horrific. Still is.

“Wouldn’t that be great? But no,” Chan explains, “even though he was part of that, he’s a hard enough nut to crack that he’s still rolling about. Initial steps proved he cleans up good.”

“Even slush funds? He’s a gold-spoon, through-and-through, but advertising shit like C.F.K. isn’t cheap.” Jisung spit-balls, pulling a few papers off the table by him and looking through them.

Changbin leans back, “We can’t find any money he shoved through under his relatives’ names and his nearbys, he hid his too well. Any paper companies anywhere didn’t catch on the filter. Plus, C.F.K. wasn’t a single-person effort. It might have been someone else’s funding.”

Jisung continues pulling through the papers laid out, eyes narrowing. He lets go of the pages, sighing and reclining back into his chair.

“Connections with already caught people?” Seungmin glances up to Chan, “M.P.A. should have reported him too, at the time, but we know their systems aren’t perfect. And another station could have overlooked something, or made a deal with him.”

“Good point, Minnie.” Chan nods, “I’ve asked around, and nobody knows anything, but it couldn’t hurt to have another go around. There could always be a few stations I’m forgetting about.”

M.P.A. doesn’t deal in assassinations. At least not that Woojin knows of.

But assassinations would definitely be useful in cases like these. This guy is scum, every mutant knows it, but they can’t just put him out of office?

Jeongin twirls a pen in his hand, poking a tongue in the side of his cheek, “But guys like these have to have connections. Doesn’t anyone know anything? An employee?”

Chan smiles at him, raising his eyebrows, “Our Innie’s using his brain. Our mission starts with Assemblyman Lee’s former secretary.”

He pushes down another picture into the cleared section, this time of a middle-aged woman. She looks severe, her eyes folding back into a double-eyelid and sleek dark hair cut to her shoulders.

Chan scribbles _Na Jisoo_ above her picture.

He taps her photo twice with the end of his marker. “We’ve been prepping her for an informant position. She claims to have evidence on Lee Seonbaek, and it’s probable considering she worked as his lead secretary since before C.F.K.”

“What’s the problem then?” Hyunjin questioned, eyes locked onto her picture.

Chan pulls a few pictures off the table in front of him, passing them so everyone has one.

Woojin looks at the photo in his hand. It’s Na Jisoo again, but this time she sits on a dark colored couch, and a half-moon smile cuts her serious look in half. A similar half-moon smile spread across his face as the camera catches him mid-laugh, a young boy sits in her lap. He looks six or seven, at the most.

“Na Jisoo’s son. He was captured after a shapeshifting power made an entrance at his school.” Woojin catches the glance Chan sends to Minho, “Her condition is that we find him.”

Minho seems indifferent to it at first glance, but as Woojin takes another look, he sees the fingers curled into Jisung’s sweater tensing and the vein appearing in his neck.

Do mutants normally feel protective of those with similar powers? Woojin doesn’t think it usually matters that much to him.

“But, uh,” And this time Jisung’s hand, holding Minho’s arm, is the one that tightens, “she knows the odds, right?”

Minho glances away from Chan to Jisung, down at his hand.

“I made sure to warn her,” Chan assures him, “but from what information we’ve got, it’s okay to assume that he made it to an N.T.P. center.”

Hyunjin glowers at the words, scoffing out a “Isn’t that worse?”

Woojin sees Jisung tense, but he never sees the fruition of whatever Jisung was planning on doing, as Chan pulls everyone’s attention back to him.

“This is where our current mission is actually starting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone has a different word for assemblyman,,,,,,,, pls,,,,,,,,,,, a child is suffering,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
> 
> what'd yall think????? any thoughts on current planning and the new info????????????????


	10. Debriefing Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> me: so what's the actual game plan, stan  
> chan: my name is chan,,,,, it even rhymes with plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapter was coming out pretty short so i added a funny little bit in the end :DD

“This is where our current mission is actually starting.”

Chan turns to the board, writing _Na Kyeongwon’s location_ in his blue marker.

He circles it, “To find him, we need to hit the right storage bank and pull his file.”

Storage bank?

Woojin glances over to Minho, tapping his shoulder and raising an eyebrow. _What’s that?_

Minho whispers with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning over, “A storage bank holds the government records on the mutants they know. One should have Na Jisoo’s son’s information and what they did with him.”

Does every mutant ever caught have a record in a storage bank? How do any M.P.A. operatives go out into public if they’ve been found out before? Maybe they’re all super careful?

Woojin thinks about the holes burnt in the kitchen’s wall.

Yeah, no.

“Are we staging this as a widespread hit?” Seungmin asks, “Hit a bunch so they don’t know who we’re looking for? That way they won’t get rid of him too fast.”

“If he’s still alive,” Hyunjin mutters under his breath.

Jisung glares at Hyunjin as he rebounds off Seungmin, “A widespread hit would rile the government up too much. Better to sneak in a few, and once we find it, to hit that storage bank.”

“You all’ve been saying it, but I still have no clue. What does ‘hitting a storage bank’, exactly,” Jeongin tilts his head, “entail?”

At least somebody’s asking Woojin’s questions for him.

Chan pauses, “Well, you’ve heard of M.P.A. storming out government centers, right?”

Woojin’s heard of it. And he knows Jeongin’s heard of it. It was impossible not to in South Korea, with all the media hemming and hawing about the dangerous mutants on the loose after it happens. It used to be a bigger deal, but now it’s happening every other Sunday.

Now they lump them altogether and talk about the mutants being put down before they become like Canada or Thailand.

“Hitting a storage bank is burning all the files in that storage bank.” Chan explains, “Originally M.P.A. got rid of the storage banks first before taking out the kids inside government centers, then they stormed the centers. That way, they couldn’t put their faces and names out.”

Exactly how many kids are in these centers? Woojin wonders if the percentages of mutants in South Korea have been suppressed.

“Things got rough when the government started to predict which center they would storm,” Chan continues, “but M.P.A. had enough members then, so we hit both center and bank at the same time.”

“A lot of kids still had to change their names,” Changbin adds quietly from his seat, “If they were well enough known in the center, then the workers there could still have names to give out.”

“But all you really gotta know right now,” Chan pulls it back together, “is that we burn all the files.”

Jisung snickers, “And I get to pull out a few tricks for the electronics.”

He holds out a finger, letting a spark fizzle next to his fingernail.

Minho gives him the stink eye, shoving his arm down.

Chan raises an eyebrow at the two of them, then deciding it wasn’t worth it and fondly shakes his head. “So our plan, like Jisung was saying earlier, is going to be part sneaking around and part burning it down.”

He makes a T-chart on the clear section, writing down Hiders and Seekers at the top as headers.

Chan turns to the crew again, “Let’s play some Hide & Seek, huh? Hiders are sneaking, and our seekers are our home crew. Home crew is scanning the electronic files for our kid.”

“You already have Jisung for that!” Felix complains. Looks like he already knows what team he’ll be on.

“Jisung can’t do everything,” Chan pointedly ignores Jisung’s “Yes I can!”, “and you should monitor a mission before you join on the first line, kiddo.”

Felix looks to Changbin, who just shrugs and avoids eye contact.

“And so here’s the teams,” Chan clears his voice, turning to the board and writing them as he raises his voice slightly to say them, “Hiders are Changbin, Minho, Hyunjin, Seungmin, and I. Seekers are Woojin, Jeongin, Felix, and Jisung.”

Woojin was up for being on the home crew. He had no idea what he would do in the storage banks, and not exactly in a rush to find out.

And thank god Jeongin would be staying in with them. At least Woojin would have his power to protect him if he needed it.

“All the hiders will get a list so we’re covering the majority of Seoul and not doubling up,” Chan says, shifting through a stack of papers and handing one or two pages to the other hiders.

Woojin can tell some have more, and some have less. Seungmin has the least, right next to Hyunjin. The other three seem to have the bulk, though Woojin can’t tell from them who has the most. Though, if he were to guess, it wouldn’t be too hard to assume it was Chan.

Jisung looks over Minho’s shoulder at his, as Jeongin leans to look at Hyunjin’s and Seungmin’s. Ah, young love. Who will Woojin read off from?

“What’s the date on this?” Seungmin looks up at Chan after studying his page of storage banks.

“Tomorrow night.” Chan answers, “The longer we wait the less of a chance there is.”

“Oof,” Changbin remarks, “I got another chance to break my leg so soon? I’ll be sure to make the most of it, hyung.”

“You do that, Binnie,” Chan says, then looks very directly at two ‘00 liners as he adds, “and I’ve got a few more things to go over with the hider team afterwards so don’t hide right away,”

Hyunjin and Seungmin whine a little, and then the meeting’s done. Just like that. Members are already filtering out of the room as it finally hits him.

It’ll be the first time Woojin will have seen a mission.

And he’s excited.

.....

_The screens buzz white and black interference, lighting up the dark room. Jisung hyung’s not in his chair?_

_Shadows creep from the corners of the room as he turns around, and the buzz of the screens echos inside his head._

_He controls his breathing as it tries to pick up. What did Woojin hyung say?_

_Look at his fingers. Count them._

_1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10… 11._

_He checks the screens again, and light floods the room like someone flipped on the lightswitch. Jisung hyung’s in his seat in front of the computer now, with sparks connecting his fingers to the keyboard, and he hears indistinct voices behind them._

_He can’t feel his body anymore._

_Like a puppet, his feet move him forward, and his hand curls around Jisung hyung’s chair. His head tilts upward._

_The monitor isn’t clear, and as it starts to blur further, his ears focus enough to hear the voices getting louder around him._

_“You idiots, get out of the fuc-” Was that Jisung hyung? “Seungmin, we already found—why aren’t you getting out of there?!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if i knew what i was doing i'd do the next chapter as the actual mission but it might be another tiny filler that'll be out sooner!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> any assumptions on where this is headed????? ((any ideas for me to steal ;)))


	11. Useless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> we're building up to the mission, i swear!!!!!!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((thanks for all those who have been commenting!!! i'm really happy to get whatever feedback i do!!!!!!))
> 
> notes:
> 
> aigoo - korean clean version of a clean version of a swear,,,,, (aigoo

Useless excitement will bounce off the walls of Station 74b that next morning, and Woojin knows it. The only reprieve he’ll get will probably be the few minutes he gets with Chan and sometimes Minho in the kitchen before the kids come down.

Chan in the morning is far nicer than Chan in training. Training Chan throws him into pools and then won’t go for a dip. But when the coffee pot likes him, Morning Chan will even make him coffee.

God knows how much coffee Woojin needs nowadays. He has no idea how Chan survives off of tea and hot chocolate.

Woojin enters the kitchen, stretching out his sore neck. He always sleeps worse on nerves.

Minho must have already got his own breakfast and went off to do his own thing, like Lee Minho is very prone to doing, because it’s only Chan in the kitchen.

Chan doesn’t notice him as he comes in, sitting on the counter and dangling his legs down. The normal black bags underneath his eyes are aggravated, and although it might be Woojin’s eyes playing tricks on him, he looks paler than usual.

“Worried?” Woojin asks.

Chan snaps out of whatever spell he was in, his head whipping to see Woojin.

His minor panic subsides when he finally realizes it’s just Woojin, and he smiles, “Just tired. I stayed up a bit last night. Changbin asked me to double-check our lists.”

Woojin’s small reprieve lasts only a few moments after that, the rest of the kids soon piling into the kitchen, first Changbin and Jisung, and then the rest.

“Jinnie,” Seungmin whines as the two enter the kitchen, hanging off of Hyunjin’s shoulder, “it’s only a one bank difference.”

Hyunjin purses his lips, forcing Seungmin off him as he sits down.

Chan glances at them, but the leader seems to already know not to interfere with their argument.

Woojin looks behind the two, expecting Jeongin to shuffle in like normal.

He turns to the two mutants, “Where’s your third head?”

“Jeonginnie?” Seungmin questions.

Hyunjin shakes his head, “He’s still sleeping.”

Woojin frowns. Jeongin likes to stick to routines. He used to nag for ten minutes whenever Woojin was two minutes later than he normally was, even though he was usually there five minutes early.

“Woojin,” Chan calls over from the counter, “wanna give me a hand?”

After the first day, Woojin was usually up just before Changbin, so he’s up around the same time Chan’s getting ready for the day. Minho’s up then, too, but like said before. He’s always doing his own thing.

From those mornings, the two of them learned that while the kitchen does fine with Chan, it plays favors. A lot.

Woojin walks over, “What’s not working?”

Chan hands him a jam jar, pouting his lips. “It’s not even a machine this time.”

“Don’t you literally have powers?” Woojin snickers at Chan’s childish whine, “Fine, you baby.”

He opens it, holding it out to Chan.

Chan doesn’t look up at him as he takes it, speaking quietly so the kids don’t hear them, “You wanna go check on Jeongin? Even if it’s just first mission nerves.”

So Chan noticed it too.

The toaster dings.

“This is probably your only chance to catch him without Thing 1 and Thing 2,” Chan reminds him, grabbing out the toast, “I’ll fend off the vultures.”

Woojin nods, “I’ll be back down in a bit.”

.....

When Woojin goes back to his room, he first notices Jeongin’s blue comforter, strewn like carnage across the floor along with another blanket and a pillow.

Pink pillowcase. That’s Changbin’s, isn’t it?

His eyes trace back to the source.

Jeongin sits, deathly quiet, on his bed, curled around his pillow like a life preserver. His eyes are squeezed shut, and Woojin sees old tear lines trailing down his cheeks, now dried but still noticeable.

“Jeongin,” Woojin approaches.

He can’t tell if Jeongin notices his voice or the tilting of the bed as Woojin joins him. He can’t tell until Jeongin speaks.

“I-I can’t remember it,” Jeongin shakily rubs the heels of his palms against his eyes.

He looks haunted, eyes darting this way and that. It seems like a weight is pulling down his shoulders, lining his whole body with tension as he tries to keep it up.

Jeongin turns his begging eyes onto Woojin, “I can’t remember it, hyung! It’s so-something, and I can’t even remember it.”

“Another dream?”

Jeongin nods jerkily.

“I can’t,” Jeongin whispers, “I can’t remember it.”

Woojin pulls Jeongin’s hand from the pillow, holding it in his, “Something will come up. You’ll remember it. And if you don’t, it must not have been too important.”

It’s a mantra Woojin’s told him every morning that it happens, that Jeongin wakes up without being able to recollect it. Everytime Jeongin ran to him, blubbering and frustrated and scared.

He said something on that morning too. He shouldn’t have.

_Is he making a mistake now?_

Woojin shuts down his doubts, not letting himself get caught up. Jeongin doesn’t remember this time. And he can’t do anything but comfort him.

“What if it’s too late?” Jeongin’s voice is only a whisper, a plea.

“It won’t be your fault,” Woojin rubs his thumb across Jeongin’s knuckles, “you’re like the rest of us, okay? You don’t know whatever that future was now, and neither do we. I’m not going to beat up Felix because he didn’t know I was going to stub my toe.”

Jeongin breathes in, eyes casting down to their hands.

“Okay,” Jeongin takes another shuddering breath in, looking back up to Woojin, “okay, hyung.”

Woojin pulls his hand out to smear the tear tracks on Jeongin’s face, “You have a few minutes until you should come down. Chan said he’d save us something, but I don’t trust the looks on those hyenas’ eyes.”

He gives Jeongin a smile, happy when Jeongin returns a tiny watery one.

“Don’t worry too much, Innie,” Woojin says, “it’ll all turn out fine.”

Woojin ignores his own worries, and it’s not all for Jeongin’s sake.

.....

Chan pulls on his hat, covering his ears and bringing it down to his eyebrows to cover as much as he could. Dragging his face mask down to his chin so he could breathe easier and pulling out one of his in-ears, he glances at the others getting ready.

“Seungmin,” Chan warns, “wear a mask.”

“Hyung, you know I hate wearing them.” Seungmin complains, “Minho isn’t even wearing one!”

Minho glances over at the call of his name and narrows his eyes. “Don’t use me as an excuse. Firstly, I’m shifting for this mission.”

He holds up a mask, displaying it for Seungmin to see.

“Secondly, I just haven’t put it on yet.”

Seungmin groans, looking back to Chan. Chan just raises his eyebrows, unimpressed. _You’re wearing one._

“Come on, loser.” Hyunjin teases, handing him one.

The two had made up since the morning, and Jeongin had rejoined their troop a few moments after. Woojin had told him what happened with Jeongin, and while that was a little unsettling, considering what Jeongin’s power was, Chan knows they can’t just stop.

He went over all the banks again in the time he had, but yet he knows whatever it must be is more than just floor plans, because those are all confirmed and entrances are perfected. They’ll have to deal with it in the moment.

Aigoo.

It’ll have to be fine.

“All of you be careful, alright?” He cautions the group, scanning them over, “Once anyone has the file, you drop everything and leave.”

There’s no way he’s allowing his station to get caught.

He taps his in-ear, “Stay in the loop.”

“Yeah, dad,” Changbin scoffs, “we know.”

“Okay,” Chan accepts it, “then we’re ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mission's coming people!!!!!! i have like,,,,,,, a page written,,,,,,,, 
> 
> any guesses as to how the mission'll go?? i know i basically asked this last chapter,,,,,, idk what else to ask,,,,,,, very sorry for no mission this time ajdklfjakljksaljf


	12. Hide & Seek Should Not Cause Heart Attacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> alrighty alrighty!!!!!!!! mission pt 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm kinda maybe worried my writing changed voices,,,,,,, but imma blame it on chan

Tapping his foot impatiently as he sits on one of the chairs they pulled up from the kitchen, Woojin waits for the _Hiders_ team to be ready and come back up to Jisung’s room.

Jisung had given him, Jeongin, and Felix a once-over of things they had to do, which didn’t really matter until the others were out onto the streets.

They were to check and use Jisung’s plug-in for looping any security cameras, and then manually check the files tagged on Jisung’s filter when the active members plugged in the thumb drive, and see if any of those were Na Kyeongwon.

They all got the members they would watch out for then too: Jisung with Hyunjin and Seungmin, Felix with Changbin, Jeongin and Minho, and then himself and Chan.

He asked why Jisung didn’t put Chan with Jeongin to balance out like him and the two ‘00 liners, and only got a grin that made Jisung’s face look very punchable.

The door creaks open, the five other members slipping into the room.

Behind Chan, Woojin is surprised to see a girl a little shorter than him following him in, and then he remembers.

It’s the form Minho had been shifted into when they first met, although now he had silver-grey hair to his chin.

“Yeoju’s back!” Jisung gleefully exclaims from his desk chair, tilting back to look at him.

Minho smiles through red lips, revealed as he pulls down his mask, “Thought it was time for a renewal. Can’t have the N.T.P. thinking she’s gone to the countryside.”

Minho strikes a pose, getting a few boos from the two behind him, and a nod of approval from Changbin.

“Yeoju?” Jeongin questions, eyebrows screwed into the form of a question.

“They have Minho down as two separate mutants in their files,” Jisung proudly informs, “the running gag is to give them more information on Kang Yeoju than Lee Minho. We even have a whole backgrounds page so we don’t forget—”

“Hey, Yeoju Fanboy,” Chan interrupts, fiddling with his hanging in-ear, “if you could please sync up our in-ears with our partners before you gush, I’d be eternally grateful.”

“Oh,” Jisung rotates his chair back to the computer, “yeah, I probably should do that.”

“Time for a last game plan talk with your partners, guys,” Chan turns to the home crew, eyes glancing over all of them, “Who’s got me again?”

Woojin raises his hand, waving him over.

As Chan walks over, the rest of the active members disperse to go to their own partners, “Excited?”

“Would be if I could work this out.” Woojin mutters.

Woojin had found the tablet confusing the moment Jisung gave it to him. The screen Jisung had left it on was a list of strings of numbers and letters, none that made any sense to Woojin, and Jisung just left to go help Jeongin right away. Favoritism kills, Jisung.

Chan crouches down next to him, peeking over at the screen.

“Each of these lines is a storage bank I’m hitting tonight,” Chan explains, “when you tap it, it should have the blueprints and cameras.”

He nudges over closer, pressing the first string of numbers. A new screen pulls up onto the screen, a map that had boxes appearing all around it and two green circles at the lower left corner above a gray one.

“The circles are a toggle between the floors,” Chan explains, “And the boxes are the cameras.”

He taps one of the boxes and a new screen pops up, a low-fi, black-and-white camera feed.

It’s only a dark hallway, the single source of light being the faint moonlight from a window. On the outskirts of the feed on the screen, there was again another button other than the exit button. He’s pretty sure he knows what it’s for, but looks to Chan anyways.

“It’ll loop the past two minutes,” Chan exits out of the feed, toggling up to the top level, “So, my tracker will show up as a green dot here, ‘cause this’ll be where I go to first.”

The others are starting to make their exit, done with their final re-hashes. Is he wasting time?

They have the whole night, it’s fine.

Woojin takes another look at the tablet, “The roof?”

Chan gives him a wink, patting him on the shoulder and heading out.

Woojin shakes his head, sighing as he hooks on his mic.

.....

“Are you Australian?” Chan whispers into his mic.

He can’t help the smile at Woojin’s exasperated, “No. Get to your storage bank, it’s already been ten minutes.”

He laughs, “Because you meet all my koalifications.”

Woojin’s ( furious) silence is enough for Chan to crack up again as he strolls into the alley and pulls up his mask over his nose.

Luckily enough for him, no one’s squatting out here, so he just gets in enough for the shadows to hide him as he sizes up the wall.

A fence divides the alley, something he could use.

He hops up onto it, scaling up in confident jumps half of the fence before—

“Jisung, stop arguing with your kids!” Woojin’s voice in his ear catches Chan off guard, and he slips a little before he hooks back into the fence.

From the top of the fence, he could probably climb the rest on the ledges of the windows.

“Doesn’t matter, listen to each other,” At least Woojin was picking up for him in the home crew.

“You’re still mic’d, Jin.” Chan reminds him, gripping onto the top ledge.

He swung his legs, gaining momentum and finally tossing a leg up to help pull himself up.

“And you finally found your spot.” Woojin commented, “I looped the camera on the roof access door.”

“Thanks.”

Turning it over in his hand, he studies the lock on the door. It’s not too much that he can’t do some fine-motor work. Slipping the paperclips out of his pocket, he straightens them out and bends them again before slipping them in.

Wiggling one of the paperclips inside, he gives a silent cheer when the lock pops open.

“Heading inside.” Chan warns, opening the door and making his way in, “Files are on second floor, right?”

“Northeastern corner.” Woojin confirms.

“Okay,” Chan takes a few stairs at a time, “What does northeastern mean for me?”

“Do you not know where north is? Are you even a village kid?”

“I’ve been in the city for the past eight years, man. Excuse me if my cardinal directions are a little poor.”

“Just, give me a second. You don’t know north from south?”

“I’ll bring a compass with me for you next time, jeez,” Chan snorts, “but also I’m down the stairs and all and I kinda need those directions.”

Woojin sighs, “Turn left, down the hallway, and then turn right.”

Chan follows his directions.

“Wait,” Chan pauses in his steps, “security guard is past the turn, coming this way.”

He can’t let the security guard catch him, there’s only so many people that could be breaking into a storage bank at this time. And if this isn’t the one, they’ll put together that they searched multiple.

Chan does some quick thinking.

The security guard’s path should be back and then up the stairs, if Chan remembers correctly. That’s okay then, there’s another way out.

He glances back.

Damn it.

The other hallway is sectioned off by a chained fence, must have had an accident there during the day.

Chan can’t move something like that quietly.

The security guard’s heavy work boots click against the metal floor.

“There’s a room up on your right near the corner, checked the camera,” Woojin urges, “No one’s inside, I looped it.”

Can Chan make it there in time without any sound?

_Click. Clack. Click. Clack._

Footsteps ricochet off the walls.

_Click. Clack._

A shadow turns the corner.

The shadow’s armed, looking at the shape.

_Click._

Chan’s almost there.

_Clack_

_Pause._

Is this what Jeongin’s dream was about?

_Click._

_Clack._

Chan can finally inhale as the footsteps get quieter outside the door, passing down the hallway.

He laughs breathlessly, “Good eyes.”

“20-20 vision,” Woojin mutters into his mic, “Quick reflexes.”

“Just like a cat, I’ve been told.” Chan tells him, peeking out the door and watching the guard disappear up the stairs. “How does getting through the rest of this mission without another heart attack sound, huh?”

“Perfect.”

In the actual storage room, boxes upon boxes stack onto shelves across all the walls, some overfilled with papers poking out of the top.

“How much…” Chan asked, “how much time… do you think we have?”

“Enough.” Woojin says, unhelpfully.

Sighing, Chan sticks the thumb drive into the computer system before he heads over to the physical files.

A thick layer of dust covers a lot of the shelves, so he can eliminate those. Na Jisoo’s son’s file would be more recent. What was the statistic for this storage bank? About a file or two sorted away a day?

Where would the newest box be?

All the boxes on the right are old, unlike the nearest side on the left. Eliminate. Check through the left.

He holds up some of the boxes, shuffling them a little to try to judge weight.

At last, he finds the lightest box, “How are things on your end, Woojin?”

“Filter’s still going.” Chan pulls the cover off the box, shifting through the files shoved in.

_Lim Jaein. Ha Domin. Choo Mark. Jo Jangsoon._

Chan pulls back the files to read the last.

Woojin speaks, “He’s not there.”

_Na Jihyuk._

Chan sighs.

“We got a lot more banks to hit.”

.....

“Any hits?”

“Wrong Na Kyeongwon. Next storage bank’s the one in Gangdong-gu.”

.....

“Anything now?”

“...Sorry, no. Gotta catch a taxi for the next one.”

.....

“Woojin, please.”

“Nope.”

“The others don’t have anything either?”

.....

“It’s like 4 am,” Chan mutters into the mic, “and no one has anything?”

He shoves in thumb drive for what seems like the thousandth time that night, silently cursing it out.

It’s not like Chan hasn’t gone on these kinds of missions before, but he’d rather be up in his planning room with a hot cocoa or something by now. Sneaking around cold and empty and dark buildings loses its charm after a few goes.

“I mean,” Woojin mumbles, and Chan suspects his pause is a yawn, “Hyunjin’s on his last bank right now. Seungmin’s not too far behind, from what Jisung’s spouting over here.”

Chan’s found his way to the new boxes ever since the first few, he’s almost got a talent for it.

He shoves off the box, blearily wiping at his eyes when the names come out blurry.

_Jang Yooeun. Ahn Minseok. Na Kyeongwon. Kim Mi—_

Wait.

“Filter caught.” Woojin alerts him.

He pulls out the file, flipping it open, “Yeah, so did mine.”

_Na Kyeongwon_   
_Parents: Na Jisoo_   
_Unknown_   
_Hometown: Seoul, Songpa-gu_   
_Found: Seoul, Songpa-gu_

“It’s,” Chan could cry from happiness at Woojin’s words, “it’s right.”

“Finally, I get to blow this pop stand.” Chan pulls out his lighter, “Tell the other guys to stand down.”

And okay, he might have gone a little overboard, but Chan swears, he’s not a secret arsonist.

He means, there’s a whole Hyunjin. He can’t go encroaching on that kid’s dream.

...

.....

...

Chan entertains the both of them on the short way home, spouting random jokes he remembers in the taxi. He even remembered to hold his phone up to keep the taxi driver from thinking he was an absolute weirdo.

“Changbin beat you to the station,” Woojin teases.

“He was on the other side of Seoul!” Chan pays the driver and steps out of the taxi, “I’m gonna beat his ass. He knows he’s not supposed to drive the bike that fast.”

The moment he shoves his shoes back into their cubby, he knows something’s wrong.

Woojin’s silent on the other side, but Chan can hear voices from upstairs.

Chan pulls out his in-ears, dragging down his mask as he hops up the stairs. It’s only one person, apparently, not voices. And they get louder with every step Chan takes towards Jisung’s room.

Chan pushes open the door, spotting first Jisung and Jeongin watching over the monitors against the wall.

“You idiots, get out of the fuc-” Jisung yells at his monitors, “Seungmin, we already found—why aren’t you getting out of there?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear i was gonna have the whole mission in one chapter but i realized how long this was halfway through,,,,,,,,
> 
> how we feelin in another pov??


	13. Painful Needle-Filled Jelly Legs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> welcome back to 50 shades of seungmin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikesyikesyikes who let me have a laptop
> 
> ((someone who is good at writing action scenes Help Me))

Seungmin’s least favorite part of missions is the micro-managing and all of little comments, the absolute lack of trust. Some times are better than others, especially if it’s Minho leading or helping another station, who don’t tend to get so overprotective.

He had been hopeful for this one. Chan had stepped off a little bit, and let him make some of his own plan.

What help does that do if Jisung isn’t even letting him do it?

He gets it more when it’s Chan. Chan has the responsibility of the whole station, and nobody can really escape his “dad” instincts. He’s the leader, it makes sense for him to call the shots and veto plans. And he has arguably the most experience on active missions, depending on how much you estimate Minho’s at.

He’s even fine with Changbin. Changbin, despite how much Seungmin likes to clown him, knows his shit, and he’s been out on almost as many missions as Chan or Minho. And Changbin barely voices his own opinion unless he’s sure it needs to be changed.

Jisung?

Jisung barely gets close to the number of times Changbin’s been out for active parts in missions. And they’re literally the same age.

So yeah, Seungmin has issues when Jisung rejects his ideas every other second.

“Seungmin,” Jisung’s voice pierces his ears, “you can’t just shatter it.”

“If I freeze the thermometer first,” Seungmin explains, “then they’ll think it was just the cold. It’s already freezing out here.”

“Dude, things don’t just shatter from the cold.” Jisung scoffs, “They might get brittle but there has to be something to break them.”

“Want me to demonstrate?” Seungmin offers, “With your fingers?”

“You’re both idiots, the door is electronic.” Hyunjin cuts both of them off from further arguments.

If it was anyone besides Hyunjin calling him an idiot, he’d surely have his revenge, but it was fine if it was Hyunjin. Hyunjin deals with him enough that it’s fair game.

“I was getting there!” Jisung asserts, “I was about to remind him, yeah?”

Seungmin shakes his head, huffing as he pulls out the card Jisung had given him at the start of the night. He had only gotten as far as finding the thermometer when Jisung had started whining. He didn’t exactly get to the door, okay?

Swiping his card down, Seungmin waited for a moment before the little red light turned green on the slider. “At least your gadgets work.”

“Just focus on your mission.” Jisung grumbles, “Unlike your boyfriend.”

“Hey!” Seungmin raises an eyebrow they can’t see when Hyunjin protests, “it wasn’t like I was going to just keep staring at it. I was just wondering why they had a painting here.”

They argue for a bit longer, and by this point Seungmin knows he’s on his own for finding the files.

.....

“Hyunjin,” Seungmin shakes his head at Jisung’s voice, sighing away from his mic, “don’t take so much time looking through them.”

They’d been arguing the whole night away, it’s a surprise Hyunjin’s even getting to his buildings on time. He’s suddenly glad for Chan’s insistence on having extra time between the schedules.

“Oh, and you’d be way faster than me?”

“Uh, yeah, obviously.”

“Say that when you’re out here freezing your ass off, and then I’ll believe you.”

“I’ve—”

Seungmin rolls his eyes, slipping his in-ears out and letting them hang on his jacket. His ears can’t take that much abuse so far into the night.

Woojin had shut them up earlier, which Seungmin was very appreciate of, but now they were back into full swing. He suspects even Woojin was getting too tired to do something about it besides ignoring it.

Another sneaking suspicion creeping up on Seungmin is the fact that so far he hasn’t had too many difficult ones. All the ones he’s gotten into are all updated into the recent electronic model, where all he needs is Jisung’s card to get in. He’d have to ask Chan later if he picked them out on purpose.

He’s on his way to his last bank of the night. He just has to get out of this one and head down back across Han river to one in Seocho-gu.

He grits his teeth when he accidentally knocks over the flimsy cardboard cutout in the middle of the lobby, quickly going to fix it back upright.

It’s not his fault he can’t see very well in the lobby. Even with the moon and light from the streetlights from the glass doors and windows from the entrance, it’s still pretty dark.

Seungmin swears he hears screaming from his in-ear, even though it’s all the way out of his ear. What did Hyunjin do to piss him off now?

He grins when the cutout finally stands on its own. He doesn’t get the need for your boss’s face in your lobby, but who’s to judge?

Seungmin is. And he’s sure judging.

Station 74b would never— _What the hell?_

Seungmin reaches for his neck, hands shaking as he feels something and yanks it out.

He holds it out to see. What… what was that?

A tranq dart? Oh shi—

He whips his head in the direction it came from, jutting out a hand when he loses his balance.

“Who’s there?” The guard’s (it was a guard, right?) question and his footsteps start blurring in Seungmin’s ears.

Which, when did a guard get there?

He blinks, trying to clear his vision. _This is not good._

Pulling in his in-ear back in with more difficulty than he should be, he gets up, supporting himself against the wall.

“Seungmin, did you just get hit?!” Jisung’s shrill voice grates on his head, “I told you to get out of there!”

He sends a flash of ice somewhere… backwards… and hopes it hit something. He uses the wall to stabilize himself, struggling across it. His legs feel like jelly, painful jelly with needles in it.

“Seungmin,” That was Hyunjin, right? “I’ll be there in a second, keep it up.”

“No, I already sent Minho, you’re not going too!”

Ha… Seungmin was tranq’d and they’re still arguing.

“You’re going to start getting really loopy, okay?” When did Chan get on their loop? “But we need you to focus, focus on what’s happening.”

Seungmin hears stomping again, and turns his head.

That shadow is too close.

Hasn’t it heard of personal space?

“Teach it personal space, then.” Seungmin’s not sure if that’s Jisung or Chan or Hyunjin or literally his own mind advising him.

Either way he’ll take it.

He blasts another burst of ice, sending the shadow into the very nice potted plant in the corner. Shadow doesn’t seem to like that, because it shoots something else at him.

And that is decidedly. Not. A. Tranq.

Ouch.

Blinking isn’t doing anything, now. All he can see is black and more black.

.....

“Minnie, wake up.”

The shadow has Hyunjin’s voice?

And, _no_ , hurts too much to keep his eyes open. He’s going back to sleep.

“You gotta wake up, okay?”

Ow, Seungmin doesn’t like all the jostling around.

“Okay, I won’t, but you gotta open your eyes for me.” Fair enough.

He’s not in the storage bank anymore. No, it’s too cold. That’s strange. Usually something’s never too cold for him.

The floor is stone. Wait.

He adjusts his gaze a little higher. The walls are stone too. Is he out in an alley?

“We’re gonna get you back to the station, but first we need to wash off the blood, alright?” Blood? What blood does Hyunjinnie need gone?

Also, we?

His gaze glazes over the shadows above him. Ah, shadows. Two of them. But if Hyunjin’s one of them who’s the other.

“Just me, kid,” Seungmin squints. Ah, Yeoju. Minho.

It’s too tiring.

He’s going back to sleep.

.....

“Will Felix be able to handle all of this?”

“He’s have to. If not, Chan hyung’s already got Mark hyung on the phone. We can’t exactly take him to a hospital.”

“Isn’t Mark hyung in Gimpo?”

“A lot of stations owe us favors. I’m sure Chan hyung or I can pull one if Mark hyung’s out.”

“We might need it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i haven't really gone over all of what i wanted to with this mission, but i'm scared it'll bog it down too much so we might be moving on with this plot (and our lives) in the next chapter or two,,,,,,,,, i was really planning on getting more info on what was with the other members but then seungmin became an invalid for half the chapter,,,,,,,,,,,,
> 
> anyways send prayers for station 74b they can always use it,,,,,,,,,,,,


	14. Day From Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> well,,,,,,,, they have the file now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rip my motivation yall,,,, hopefully this picked it up a little

The planning room doesn’t have any windows.

It was set up like that before the house was 74b’s.

Before she disappeared, Station 13a’s leader had had a fleeting conversation with Chan, parka zipped up tight and a dufflebag slung over her shoulder.

_“Once the job finally breaks you in,” She had muttered, staring past him with dead eyes and running fingers through ratty hair that always looked like it could use a wash, “you’ll get what I mean. You won’t want to know day from night. You’ll need to get lost in work.”_

Station 13a had been shaved down to only five members at that point. Chan remembers the members that cycled in and out back when he was younger, when M.P.A. used to have stations babysitting the displaced mutants instead of placing them in dorms. Station 13a had had the fluctuating number usual for stations until they reached ten, and then they had finally settled.

They used to be legends in the field, top of their games for years. Chan himself had begged them for years to teach him how they did it. The leader’s answer had always been their teamwork. At the pace they were at, South Korea would have legalized mutants again in a year or two.

But then they lost one.

And like that, the whole station fell apart.

Three of the members had retired before Jisung and Changbin had joined Chan. For a time it was two stations—a makeshift station of hopeful yet inexperienced teenagers and a pitiful corpse of a station that had members leaking out left and right—working out of the same building.

And then it was just the three of them.

Chan had thought about moving the planning room before, after having to pull Jisung and Changbin out at 3 A.M. a few too many times. But every single time, he’s reminded of her words.

She wasn’t wrong.

And each time, something comes around to drill them back into his skull.

_“Seungmin, did you just get hit?!” Jisung’s fingers clack loudly against his keyboard. “I told you to get out of there!”_

He shakes his head. This isn’t what he came here for.

_He hears the loud pop through the loop before he sees the few blurry pixels dedicated to Seungmin crumple to the floor. That—Chan knows what a gunshot sounds like._

_“What was that?”_

_Hyunjin doesn’t._

_They had been trying to keep the kids away from that._

The chair’s legs squeal against the floor as he pushes out of the seat. He needs to start planning again; he can’t stew like he knows he will.

He swipes the eraser off the table, pausing for a moment in front of the board.

_“I’m there,” Minho’s voice is soft and clear._

He erases the recent additions to the board, all the planning about the various storage banks, and leaves the basics.

They have Na Kyeongwon’s file now. They have where they need to go, and who they’re supposed to be looking for. But they’re down two members. And he doesn’t particularly want the third one out there either.

Chan fishes the packet out of Na Kyeongwon’s file packaging, tossing the folder onto the table and skimming through the first few pages.

 _Jisung’s going to be trouble_ , Chan mentally notes.

Too many of the details resemble a certain member of theirs. From what he’s seen, enough of it was disclosed to Jisung that involving him too much would be a dangerous game. It should be fine, though, as long as he keeps Jisung out of the playing field.

Definitely cannot let him meet Na Jisoo.

_“Jimin, do you not have anyone?” He follows the action on the screen as he hisses across the phone._

_He can’t see how bloody it got, but he knows that both of the others were banged up pretty well. Even if Felix ends up being able to handle Seungmin, the other two are going to need attention too._

_“We’ve outrun almost all of them,” Minho informs breathlessly over the in-ear, “We’re gonna head over to the next district before we catch a taxi.”_

_“Injuries?” Jisung asks for Chan._

_Minho catches his breath before answering, “Seungmin’s shot is in the side. Has an exit wound. We don’t know how bad Hyunjin’s leg is yet, but it got a beating.”_

_“You, hyung?”_

_“Just a little winded.” Chan hears Minho’s playful smile, “Remind me to work on my cardio.”_

_He’s just about to pull his phone from his ear to speak when Jimin finally responds, “I’ll check. I have a few oppas I could ask.”_

Chan rereads the last few lines, realizing he hadn’t been reading at all.

 _Powerful shifting trait, can move over the species border._ So the boy’s a shapeshifter, they knew that already. Important to note that he could be hiding in a different form later, though.

He scribbles down a note on the bottom of the whiteboard, beneath the information they have on Na Kyeongwon.

 _Displays unproportional exhaustion and fever not connected to a possible viral strand_. Sounds a lot like he’s showing signs of developing another power.

There’s two normal routes to take for a power to surface. The first is the most common, a fever and signs easily taken as a virus that a kid picked up in school, and it takes ages for most cases to clear. Chan remembers the amount of kids he pulled through a route 1 power surfacing, and is very glad his members are too old for it.

The second route is a little less identifiable, where it instead appears as too much energy and intense mood swings. The second’s more common in preteens and teens, though it’s not unheard of a kid with a route #2 surfacing.

A third route was started to be theorized, where it appears in the moment; however, a lot discredit it, calling it just another one of the two routes that wasn’t very present. Chan hasn’t had any experience with it himself yet.

But it looks like Na Kyeongwon is taking route #1.

And for them, that means they don’t have a lot of time to grab him. Centers don’t like kids with multiple powers hanging around. They only keep them around if it’s possible to see if they’ll develop an identification ability.

Where did they send him?

He flips through the next few pages. A center in Gyeonggido. Near Gimpo. He’ll have to check with Minho if he knows anything about it.

Center #137… it sounded familiar, and Chan really doesn’t like what that means.

He walks over to one of the file cabinets, pulling it open. He hovers a hand above Minho’s manila folder, but decides against it. Chan won’t break their promise.

Instead he sorts through the vast amount of center information they have on hand, plucking out the right file when he finds it.

It’s an older center, and nothing much has been changed since it was created, so it’d be easy enough to storm. He’s going to have to talk to their section chief about where the displaced mutants are going to go first, though. Whether or not the dorms are full, it’s always in flux.

A few new stations were just set up in Incheon, so that should clear up a bit in the dorms, right?

But before any of that, he needs to go inform Na Jisoo. And figure out what to do with their sudden lack of members.

At least he can pull out Minho if he really needs him. He was shifted that night, so Lee Minho still has been “out of the game” long enough that they could pull him outside. But he’d really rather not.

That poor bastard can stick inside for a while too and actually rest for once.

Hyunjin’ll be out on three accounts: Not following the plan, showing his face, and a broken leg. He still needs to have a talk with him later. Chan doesn’t think anyone’s looking forward to that.

And Seungmin—he… he doesn’t know.

Chan doesn’t know how he let it become like this.

He should have monitored their training more, focused on having them know the exact ins and outs before he sent them. Should have made sure Felix could handle more, should have…

Seungmin will be fine, but Chan needs to work harder to not repeat it.

_“He’ll be fine after a while to rest,” Jimin’s friend closes the door quietly behind him, “I’m assuming you know not to put him in any missions for quite a while.”_

_“Of course,” Chan replies, “what about the other two?”_

_“Hyunjin-ssi’ll be fine after a day or two, his leg wasn’t too serious.” He answers, “Heads aren’t an easy fix, so I only did a little for Minho-ssi. Give him enough pain meds and he’ll survive.”_

_“Thank you.”_

_He meets eyes with Chan, shaking his head, “We don’t need to lose any more kids in this building.”_

He almost lost a member. He won’t let it happen again.

A knock pounds against the door, making him jump.

None of his kids usually knock.

Who could it—Shit, Chan knows who it is. And he’s not ready for him, not that he ever is. But he can’t exactly tell him to leave.

“It’s open.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ya boy wrote three different versions for this chappie man,,,,,,,,,,,, i threw away 14 pages of work and i now know what pain is
> 
> anyways what do yall think????????


	15. Doorbell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hello, chan's room visitor!!!! it's mr...........

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a little bit shorter chappie but i'm getting back here i think

Blearily wiping at his eyes, Woojin steps out of Chan and Minho’s room.

Before Woojin had even gotten to changing into sweatpants to go to sleep last night—technically this morning—Chan had warned him and Jeongin to just bunk in his room for the night. Minho had been (forcibly) moved into their room so Jisung wouldn’t have a mutant-sized riot, and the rest had advised the two of them to just get the hell out of there.

Woojin really had tried to go to sleep, but a feeling like the one he had had the first night in the station denied him even the right to take a damn nap. As far as he knew, the only thing he has to do today is rest. However, the nerves didn’t agreeing with him.

He stumbles through the hallway, pausing for a moment.

Staring up at in the planning room’s direction, he can’t help but wonder what Chan’s up to. Not only did he almost immediately disappear after everything was settled, he never returned back to his room.

He would assume he went to the ‘00 line room, but he’s actually learned quite a bit about their leader. Enough to know that he’s up in the planning room.

Shaking his head, Woojin continues shuffling through the hallway, turning his head a little bit as he passes the stairs leading up to the third floor.

And Jesus Christ.

Changbin almost gave him a heart attack.

“Not going to rest?” Woojin asks.

Huddled on the third step up with his head bowed, Changbin seems half-asleep. He’s still wearing the leather jacket he left for his mission in, although it’s been unzipped and now hangs loosely.

Why is Changbin still out here? Woojin feels like maybe he already knows the answer.

Woojin takes a seat next to Changbin on the stairs.

Changbin raises his head a little, eyes peeking out from his bangs.

“Why are you up?” He frowns, “Weren’t you all gonna sleep in?”

“I was grabbing water and going back up,” Woojin answers, eyes tracing over Changbin’s form.

Dark bags that could rival Chan’s hang from dead-looking eyes. His elbows rest on his knees, and his shoulders are basically at his ears. He looks like he’s about to swallow himself up.

Woojin feels like he’s looking into a mirror that has a few months lag.

Changbin bites his lip, “I’m waiting up for Chan hyung. He won’t let me into the planning room.”

“Yeah?”

“I just”—an abrupt laugh leaves Changbin’s mouth and his voice cracks—”I don’t know what to do. He won’t let me help him.”

Changbin shakily ducks his head, rubbing his palms against his eyes.

Woojin frowns.

Looking at it, he thinks he now realizes something he’s been forgetting. They’re all kids. Changbin, Hyunjin, Jisung… Seungmin. In this type of fight even the children have to be included, but Woojin can’t help but wish it wasn’t that way.

For god’s sake, their school uniforms get littered around the station. They leave their backpacks everywhere.

Changbin’s still young, just like the rest of them, just like Woojin himself.

Somehow he imagines reminding him of that won’t help.

He pats Changbin’s arm, “I think the best thing to do is to take care of yourself. Give him one less thing to worry about.”

He peeks underneath Changbin’s hands, trying to get eye contact.

“It’s not your fault if he’s not accepting help, Changbin,” Woojin tells him quietly.

Changbin nods, turning his head away, even though Woojin already saw his watering, red eyes.

“Get some shut eye,” Woojin tells him, “come over to our room if you want me to come bore you to sleep.”

He stands up, stretching his arms as he begins descending down the main stairs.

Changbin calls out to him, “Hyung, he—”

The doorbell rings.

Woojin trades a look with Changbin.

Someone’s at their door? At this ti… Woojin glances at the clock on the wall. 7:00 A.M. Okay, maybe it’s a somewhat reasonable time, but not for the members after last night.

Changbin peels himself off the stairs, looking down at the first floor.

“I’ll grab the door,” Woojin offers.

He scales down the stairs with quick steps, jumping over to the front door and peeking through the peephole. With quiet footsteps, Changbin follows.

Older guy? 50’s maybe? Snake-looking face? No one that Woojin recognizes.

He backs up, allowing Changbin to take a look.

“Shi—” Changbin cuts himself off, glancing at Woojin and explaining in a whisper: “Park Jinyoung. He’s our section head. Try to get away with not talking as much as possible.”

He then pulls open the door, and Woojin moves back more to get out of the way.

Old Guy (their section head, Woojin reminds himself) draws more of Woojin’s attention when he realizes what he’s _wearing_. The thin gray hoodie was questionable enough, but the colorful neon pants are what really do Woojin in. He can’t help furrowing his brow a little.

Strange Fashion Old Guy ( _he’s your section head_ , Woojin, _god!_ ) licks his lips and glances around the station. “And Chan?”

Changbin’s eyes narrow, but he answers dutifully, “In the planning room. Sir.”

Park Jinyoung looks down at him, eyes squinting before he nods like a curiosity was solved. Then his gaze slips past Changbin towards Woojin.

“New member?” He questions, “Yang Jeongin, was it?”

Woojin decides he doesn’t like old guy and his strange fashion.

“Kim Woojin.”

“Ah, yeah,” He waves a hand dismissively, “there’s two of you again this time.”

Woojin presses his lips into a straight line, watching their section head just walk up past them to the stairs.

“Is he always…”

“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so how yall thinkin? did i betray any yall??


	16. Bite Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> we get ourselves a sneak peek of something brewin down before we have some morning time with our favorite mutants ye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> full disclosure i don't really like how this chapter is but i'm getting through it!! i just wanna keep the story goin

_Staring up at the sky is always something interesting. Look up and the possibilities are limitless: gray seeded clouds, shuttles dancing through the sky, a jet zooming past. Sometimes you even get to hear the old KBS news helicopter shudder and heave itself through the sky._

_The roof of the old broadcasting station is still the best for sightseeing, he admits it. Even after the international planes left._

_Everybody used to be able to just look up and the sky was full of them, but recently they’ve stopped showing up. One of the Lim hyungs said it’s because of that Clean Future or Whatever bill being proposed. Jiheon doesn’t know exactly what it is, but Yoongi hyung had even warned him not to go home._

_Yoongi hyung himself isn’t going out for hits, so whatever it is must be serious._

_He looks back up at the sky._

_“Heonnie, get over here.”_

_He sits up, turning a scowling face over to the other kid. He was having fun, goddamnit._

_He glares up at him. “What do you want.”_

_“Don’t be such a brat,” Jeongkyun scolds, “found some practice.”_

_He juts out his chin past the concrete fence as he rolls back and forth on his heels.._

_Jiheon rolls his eyes, getting up and jumping up on the tips of his toes to peek over the wall._

_Jeon Jeongkyun may be an asshole, but he knows how to spot easies like no one else. That and Jiheon’s own prowess in rouses were the whole reasons the Min hyungnim paired them together, after all. If either of them didn’t live up to their expectation nothing good would happen._

_This target’s a lone tourist, the map in her hand and her white “I <3 Seoul” t-shirt quick to betray her._

_Which would they go with? “My Little Brother’s Hurt, Help Me”? But if the tourist doesn’t know Korean, that could go south in mere seconds. And they can’t pull the classic “Do You Have Directions?”, not with the whole tourist situation._

_Maybe they could pull a “Cellphone Please” with the little bits of broken English the two of them know. Jeongkyun’s been working on—_

_Looking just past the tourist pauses Jiheon’s planning mid-thought._

_“Are you kidding me?” He questions, “There’s no way, not anymore.”_

_Jeongkyun raises his eyebrows, “Why’d you think I called it practice? You’re gonna come across more situations like this.”_

_“I’m not going to pickpocket a lady in front of an officer, not after that one time.”_

_“You’re supposed to be good at this, ain’t ya?” Jeongkyun smirks, “Pull out a fake name or two, a little clever distraction.”_

_Jiheon narrows his eyes._

“Pull out a fake name or two” _?_

_They both know they don’t take on fake names unless the stakes are high enough. The codes they made about them are practically a language by now._

_Well, Jiheon’s screwed._

_Jiheon looks around to try to see one of the Mins or maybe a stray Park trailing them as he responds, “Fine. Give me a fake name and I’ll go see what magic I can pull.”_

_Jeongkyun’s turn._

_He figures if anything it’ll be a Jungkook or a Minhyuk or something. Jungkooks are the “make a run, regroup later” and Minhyuks are a basically a yellow card. “Be careful”. Maybe he’ll even pull out a Kibeom. “An ahjussi trailing”._

_Jeongkyun’s smirk lacks the usual mirth as he offers up an answer._

…

Woojin almost drops his coffee for a split-second when he walks back into the kitchen.

What’s with these kids and spooking him out of his wits recently?

Taking a deep breath, he leans against the counter and takes a sip of his coffee. “Aren’t you on room arrest?”

Rolling back-and-forth on his heels, Minho waits in front of the coffee maker as it drips down into his ‘Bite Me’ mug.

Hearing Woojin, a forced smile tugs one side of Minho’s lips up and he tilts his head a towards him. He lifts his hand to shush Woojin with a finger to his lips.

“I haven’t been found out yet.” Minho turns back to the coffee machine, waiting for his to be done.

A faint, dark dirty red, almost brown, stains the center of the bandage on the back of his head. Peeking out of the bottom of his sleeves are a few more matching bandages.

Woojin wonders how bloody their missions usually get—or at least Minho’s. Even now he doesn’t seem particularly phased.

“Should you even be having coffee?”

“Probably not,” Minho regards the coffee maker in front of him for a moment, and then turns to Woojin, “but I might keel over without it, so...”

“Fair enough.” Woojin responds, tilting his own mug to see the coffee swirl.

He feels like he should have a lot to ask Minho— _How did you all get home? Where did the head hit come from? Is this- is all of it worth it?_ —and yet he can’t just pick one to ask. And even if he could, he knows he wouldn’t get the heart to ask it.

But still, he should at least _say_ something.

He opens his mouth—

“If you’re just going to be running about the station,” Woojin’s head snaps over to the entrance to see Chan walk in, “at least stop shifting. You know you’re supposed to be resting.”

Minho just scoffs, “I’ll do that when you go to sleep at a reasonable time.”

“Minho.”

“What.” If it was supposed to be a question, Minho’s tone kills it.

Chan narrows his eyes.

Minho repeats, “What, hyung.”

“I won’t ask—” Chan promises.

Exactly what, Woojin doesn’t know, but he assumes it has to do something with the way Minho’s hands shake, although it doesn’t look like he himself has taken much notice of it.

“—but you do have to get rest. I’m not lying when I say I’m worried.”

Immediately breaking eye contact and twisting back to his coffee, Minho snorts.

And with that, it feels like the tension is cut through in a moment.

Chan turns from Minho and addresses Woojin, “We have somewhere to go after training, make sure to bring some nice clothes to change into.”

Both pairs of eyes trail Chan as he leaves.

Woojin feels a little like his brain is lagging.

“Gone as fast as he came,” Minho pulls out his mug and blows over the top, “that’s our Chan hyung.”

Too late, Woojin remembers what she should have asked Chan. He should have asked him what down last night. Should have asked what the Section Head needed him so desperately for.

It also wouldn’t have to hurt to know where they were going today. Damn it.

Minho winces a little as he joins Woojin by the counter, grimacing and taking a sip of probably burning hot coffee. Woojin decides not to comment on it.

Looks like he’ll have to leave it for training today.

“You should probably change that out,” Woojin remarks, lifting his chin in the direction of his head bandage.

Minho shifts his mug to one hand, using the other to carefully feel the back of his head.

“Eh,” he pulls his hand back after rubbing it past a few times, “I can get some more use out of this one.”

“Still…” Woojin bites his lip, watching Minho for a while.

Minho just shakes his head, “Shouldn’t waste anything.”

It takes only a few more moments of quietly sipping coffee for Minho to stumble back out of the kitchen.

Woojin should start to carry around a list of questions he has, so that he can actually ask them on time. The system he has right now of thinking them, forgetting them, losing the moment, and then remembering them don’t really end up helping him so much.

Well, it’ll have to wait for later. Apparently now he has to go get ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> our babies's story up on top might be somethin but,, anyways ya boy's thinkin of maybe starting a side story with this story that's a prequel so we'll see how that goes
> 
> tell me what yall's predictions are!!!!!!!!!! comments are fuelin me here man


	17. Good News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a little more light-hearted, chan and woojin make their way to their destination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think i like this chapter more than the last ngl,,,,,,,,
> 
> notes:  
> eomeonim - rom. of mother in korean, formal (the way one would refer to other's mothers in a polite way)

“You feel like telling me where we’re going yet?” Woojin snorts at Chan’s attempt to hide a smile from his face.

Chan’s (and everyone’s, but especially Chan’s) mood took a sharp upturn after Seungmin had woke up that morning, and he was able to give him a proper nagging. Only traces of the last few horrible days line him with dark eyebags and a stiff back.

Now, hands stuffed in his pockets and spring in his step, he seems almost like he wasn’t the leader of a station steps away from having a breakdown two days ago. Glancing down at him practically prancing by his side in Hyunjin’s too-big jacket, he doesn’t even look like a big, bad mutant.

He looks… cute?

“You know,” Chan’s grin peeks out in small ways, like squinting eyes and little dimples on his cheeks as he speaks, “it’s not often that we get to give good news.”

“Good news?” Trying to extract more from him, Woojin sends him an encouraging smile.

Chan opens his mouth and turns to look up at Woojin, but right before he can spill the beans he purses his lips again.

Woojin frowns, “Come on.”

Chan mimics pulling up a zipper on his mouth, shaking his head.

Around them, the small shops and family restaurants are disappearing as they walk past, replaced with towering office buildings and professional looking shops for tourists. Woojin tilts his head in confusion.

Who would they be giving news to?

Chan’s tiny nudge pulls him out of his thoughts.

He looks down, and follows Chan’s finger up to the skyline. What was he pointing out?

He turns back to Chan for an answer, and the leader finally grins, “The tall buildings were my favorite part about the city when I first came.”

Woojin blinks, bewildered.

Chan’s beam shrinks into a soft smile, and he jabs Woojin’s side with his elbow, “Yours?”

“Um…” Woojin tries to think.

Thankfully, Chan doesn’t watch him as his brain scrolls through all the things he’s seen, just keeps walking forward.

He can’t think of anything that’s anything better than the others, only the worst parts he’s picked out of the city. The trains are neat, but he still thinks about leaving his village whenever he sees them. And while street vendors are fascinating, they’re never enough for him to go search them out.

“I really don’t know.” Woojin answers truthfully, “Maybe I’ll find out later.”

Chan nods, biting at his bottom lip like he’s thinking about something, then he pauses and looks over to their right.

His grin returns, “We’re here.”

Woojin stops when Chan does, getting a good look at the building before Chan can push them in.

It’s one of Chan’s “tall buildings”, although in the neighborhood it’s in it looks like the black sheep of the family. Slightly run down, graffiti slapped onto the walls, and housing several homeless people up front and in the alley, he wonders how stubborn the owner is that it hasn’t been handed over to the gentrification task force.

He looks again at the graffiti he can see. Most of it’s recent. Among the most popular: ‘Hypocrite’, ‘Monster’, and ‘Murderer’.

“Where’s here?”

“Na Jisoo’s apartment building,” Chan’s grin falls when he follows Woojin’s eyes to the graffiti, “It’s not been easy. She’s got heat for this from both sides.”

Before much more, Chan is pulling him towards the building, pulling something out from his pocket as he walks.

As they enter the building, Chan leaves him in the lobby and Woojin sees him drop something down into one of the homeless men’s cups and come back in.

“Charity?”

“Something like that.”

Na Jisoo’s apartment is on the fourth floor, and the elevator has an old “Broken” sign adorning it, so the two weave up the floors on the stairs.

It seems like there’s more and more angry and political posters each floor they go up, and the fourth floor was no joke.

With the walls almost completely plastered in posters and post-it-notes, saying she got heat was an understatement. Trying to be hopeful, Woojin noted that most of the posters were old and curling at the edges, some of them already fallen on the floor.

A poster peels itself off the wall as Chan knocks on the farthest door. Apartment number 310.

Woojin catches up behind him.

“Who’s there?”

Na Jisoo’s voice isn’t weak nor unstable, stronger than Woojin expected it to be.

“It’s Station 74b, Eomeonim.” Chan answers, backing up to let her see him through the peephole.

Woojin can hear at least three locks unlatching before Na Jisoo cracks open the door to meet eyes with Chan before giving Woojin a once-over.

“Minho didn’t come this time?” She doesn’t even open the door the whole way to ask, gaze stuck on Woojin.

He tries not to stare back at what little he can see of her, but the dark bruise hiding behind a clump of hair draws his eyes back in. It looks yellow in some spots, and he tries not to wonder how she got it, but he’s not especially good at turning off his brain.

Chan nods dutifully, “This is Woojin. I might have mentioned him before.”

She narrows her eyes and closes the door. Woojin thinks for a moment that somehow he’s blown the whole thing until he hears a final latch unhook and the door opens fully.

“Come in."

...

_“Jeongkyun,” He stretched out his arms, meeting his fingertips to the tips of his toes, “when do you think Yoongi hyung’s coming back?”_

_Jeongkyun hasn’t been the same ever since Yoongi left. He even asked Joon, and he had agreed with him. He had also told him not to ask him directly why, but he’d never said anything about any other questions, so…_

_Jiheon turned his head a little to peek at him under his arm._

_He can tell Jeongkyun’s angry from the way his eyebrows screw into an angry caterpillar and the fact that he didn’t even try to force a ‘hyung’ from Jiheon, “Min Yoongi is not coming back. Ever.”_

_Jiheon twists his head back before Jeongkyun sees he’s watching, “That bad?”_

_He hears Jeongkyun huff and push himself off the mat._

_“He’s a liar and a monster”—Jiheon shoves down a wince—“and most of all he’s lucky they haven’t found him yet.”_

_A monster._

Did they find out? All of them?

Yoongi wouldn’t be that stupid _, Jiheon chides himself._

Are you kidding? After such a close call? Don’t pretend you don’t know what he’s like. What he’s done for you.

_Jeongkyun’s next words are so quiet he almost doesn’t hear him. “You should stay away from Joon hyung too, okay?”_

_Jiheon blinks._

_It isn’t like Jeongkyun to worry about him. It isn’t like Jeongkyun to be like this to Joon._

_“O-Okay?” Jiheon agrees, unsure, because what else can he do?_

_“He’s too unsurprised by this,” Jeongkyun explains, venom barely veiled, “between you and me, I wonder if he’s like Yoongi. You know, I think I might actually lose it if he is.”_

_Like Yoongi._

_Jiheon’s throat dries, and he licks his chapped lips._

_Like Yoongi._

_His heart beats faster and he feels it pound in his ears._

_Like Yoongi._

_Jiheon glances at Jeongkyun. His eyes sear the wall like he would go and tear it apart bare-handed. He swears the way Jeongkyun’s veins tightening in his wrists make the dragon tattoo look like it’s moving._

_Jiheon decides._

_He can’t let him know he’s like Yoongi. Ever._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was surprised when this chappie just,, came!!
> 
> hopefully it isn't garbage i haven't really gone over it enough
> 
> also yes!! jiheon's side story here will lead to something in this story,, i promise


	18. Conflicted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shortie, meeting na jisoo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah, me uploading?????? crazy, i know, but somehow it happened;;

“Come in.”

Na Jisoo closes the door behind them and walks past the entryway to the rest of her apartment.

Woojin glances back, taking in the five locks screwed into the door as he pulls off his shoes. All but one are all re-latched, the last one seeming the oldest. Maybe it’s broken.

Chan doesn’t wait for him and follows her in.

Na Jisoo’s entryway doesn’t have a shoe cupboard like the station, instead just a mat that Chan and Woojin kicked their shoes off onto. Besides just their shoes, a pair of black high heels, white tennis shoes, and a pair of small velcro green shoes sit abandoned.

Hanging in frames, pictures spread across the walls. Woojin recognizes one of them as the picture Chan used in the briefing with Na Jisoo and her son on a couch. No signs of any father or even a stepfather.

It almost reminds Woojin of what Jeongin’s house looked like. Even down to the overabundance of overgrown houseplants.

Past the hallway, he can hear them talking, but can’t make it out the words.

As Woojin walks into the living room Jisoo’s voice becomes clearer, “...nobody’s made any serious threats, no.”

Neither of them turn to him, but Jisoo glances his way before focusing back on Chan.

“That’s good,” Chan’s voice is different from how he talks to their members, slower and more precise, “however we still need the reports filled out, just in case.”

Woojin doesn’t like that he can’t hear the now-familiar accent in Chan’s words.

“But,” Chan says, “we have news.”

Na Jisoo’s hands tighten around her arms, eye shining in the light, “News?”

“He’s alive,” Chan tells her, “there’s still time for things to go wrong, but we can start planning the next section of your son’s recovery.”

Her hands loosen, and as she lowers her head her hair hides her eyes.

She tucks the misplaced hair back behind her ear, breathing in deeply, “Thank you.”

Woojin wonders for a second if she’s crying, but then she lifts her head again and although her eyes shine with unshed tears, she has a fiercity in them that almost scares him. She’s not one to give up easy. That’s good.

“We do have to ask more questions for the details of the actual recovery,” Chan says softly, “if that’ll be alright.”

“Ask all you need,” She states, firm, “I failed my baby before, but I won’t do it this time.”

.....

Woojin lets Chan led him out of the building after their chat, letting it sink in. He didn’t know what he expected from her. Maybe she was what he expected? Maybe not?

“I, just,” He mumbles vaguely in the direction of Chan, “she’s done so many things to hurt us, but…”

Chan hums, tilting his head, “I suppose it just didn’t make sense to her until it came close to home.”

“Still…” Woojin frowns.

Waving at the old homeless man he left something for, Chan calls out a goodbye before turning a little to meet Woojin’s eyes.

“Well,” He says, “we might be doing this on record for her information, but…”

Chan smiles and his eyes leave Woojin’s hold.

“The kid deserves to go back to his family. Someone’s gotta go get him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> our installation of jiheonnie's story has been delayed, but i got out this one so i'm a little satisfied with myself!! let's see where these boys go!!!!
> 
> ik this is real short, but it needed to get out there before i write more!!!!!!!!!!!


	19. Sick Day(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> but planning can't be too easy for our babes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chappie might get its own little one-shot in this series at a later date, so i guess maybe while not keeping both eyes out for it, perhaps one eye will do??

“Seungmin-ah,” Chan calls out to the mutant watching with wide eyes from the door, “go grab another bucket, hyung’ll take care of this one.”

He runs a hand through Changbin’s greasy hair, letting it run down his quivering back before he pulls it up to the top of his head again. It was kind of gross, but he remembers the hyungs taking care of him when he caught every virus imaginable after moving to Seoul.

Station 74B had been _supposed_ to be planning—and to be fair, he and Jisung are getting some done now—when Changbin had woken up one night and projectile vomited on the floor.

“You’re okay, Binnie,” Chan comforts him as Changbin’s breaths slowly lengthen and he stops shuddering like a frozen chihuahua.

Changbin shakily leans back into Chan’s arms, eyes falling shut, “‘M sorry.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Chan reassures, “Sungie and I will do the planning. If you’re not okay by deadline we can always call in backups, you know that.”

Chan had ushered Changbin into his and Minho’s room and quarantined it off last night, although that didn’t stop the two sets of curious eyes on the other side of the door. It wasn’t the time for all of the station to be getting sick, so they just need to get Changbin back up to speed without getting the rest involved.

“Just focus on getting better, okay?” Chan keeps his voice soft, knowing Changbin was probably already asleep.

He heavies Changbin up, laying him down on his bed. He makes a mental note to have one of the kids remind him to wash the sheets.

Picking up the bucket, he heads down to the bathroom and gets rid of it.

Apparently Seungmin got Woojin to go do his chore, because it’s the oldest member that hands over a pail to him when he gets back upstairs.

“Aren’t you going to get sick too?” Woojin asks as he hands over the bucket.

Chan grabs it, answering, “I haven’t gotten sick from one of our members yet, so I’d be a little betrayed if this is the time that does me in.”

.....

The plague doesn’t end itself with one victim.

Less than a day passes before they’re losing Minho to it, which made it impossibly hard to keep Jisung helping him in the planning room. And, like expected and dreaded, Jisung was the next victim. Then he dragged Seungmin in, which automatically dragged in Jeongin and Hyunjin.

Thank god that even if they didn’t save all of them, his barricades actually worked enough to keep two of them healthy. Woojin and Felix better thank him for that, by the way.

At least Changbin and Hyunjin were almost all better at its peak. Even Minho was getting to “recovered”.

“Hyung, I think I’m dying,” Jisung whines, pulling on Chan’s sleeve, “stay with me on my deathbed.”

Chan scowls down at him, “Then you should have stayed away from Minho like I told you to.”

Jisung pouts, yanking at his sleeve again.

Chan sighs, taking a seat next to him on the bed and giving Jisung’s head a pat. He needs to be more strict, but he can’t really find it in him. The past few days he can’t really find much of anything in him to give. He’s already exhausted and the day has barely started. It’s been a while since he’s had to care for so many sick kids, he figures.

Jisung’s asleep in a few minutes, and although he’s tempted to just lay down and take a nap too, Chan knows it’s time to go check in on Seungmin.

Seungmin’s the worst, barely recovered from his gunshot and already sick again. And it doesn’t help that the mutant’s fevers have always been the worst of all of theirs.

Huddled under Seungmin’s comforter, he can already see more than one body. Guessing game, Hyunjin or Jeongin?

He pulls the cover down a little, just enough to peek and see a mess of black and red hair. He squints a little, and decides it’s probably Jeongin with how small the other boy is. Chan checks Seungmin’s temperature with a hand, satisfied when he’s not burning up too bad and shoves the cover back up.

His kids were all doing fine, at least.

Chan yawns, heading up to the planning room to see how Changbin’s doing.

“Any progress?” Chan rubs his palms into his eyes when they don’t open for him.

Changbin huffs from his swivel chair, “This would be a whole lot easier if we knew what members are going to be ready.”

Chan forces his eyes open, squinting again to read Changbin’s handwriting on his timeline.

Yeah, he’s relying too heavily on their members being present, that’s for sure.

“Well,” He takes a seat on the table next to Changbin’s chair to take in more of the writing, “at least assume Jeongin, Woojin, and Felix home. We can at least count on you and me for active players.”

Changbin gnaws on the cap of his whiteboard marker, glancing over at Chan, “We might need to see how Woojin’ll do in an active position, we don’t have enough to spare, even with Jaebum-ssi and his members helping.”

“Hand me the marker.”

Chan pulls the marker out of Changbin’s hand, making a list of all of station 74B members and Bambam’s station’s members.

He preemptively crosses out _‘Jeongin’_ and _‘Felix’_ , and with a little bit of thought, _‘Seungmin’_.

“He won’t get better in time,” Chan explains, “but I think we can at least count on the others getting better.”

Changbin nods slowly, grabbing a few papers from behind him and pinning them up to the board. The security guard resumes… looks like Changbin’s really put a step up in his planning, he’s proud.

“Got an idea?” Chan smiles a little as Changbin grins.

“If we have Minho hyung shift in there as a guard,” Changbin starts, “we could get Jinyoung-ssi in and then Jisung or Bambam-ssi in to take off the security measures.”

Chan presses his lips into the a thin line, eyes darting between Bambam and Jisung’s names. He knows first-hand both of them can do it, and he doesn’t especially want Jisung out after getting sick, but he also doesn’t need Jisung getting mad at him. Hopefully it being Bambam’s group will at least help.

“Let’s go with Bambam,” Chan says, circling his name on the board and scribbling down a quick note, “and we’re going to need to prep Jinyoung hyung to be able to find Na Kyeongwon’s power.”

Sometimes he was jealous their station didn’t have someone to be able to sense mutant abilities, but he already got so lucky with his members that he doesn’t have too much room to complain.

But all they needed before was a good entrance, and now they just need a good timing to decide what guard they’d look more into for the plan. With this, he has a little more faith that they’ll make a good enough plan in time. He imagines it’s only a little bit until their section head takes another visit to their station.

“But, hyung, are you okay?”

Chan blinks open his eyes, glancing over at Changbin. Changbin must be a little sensitive after last mission, he's far more concerned than he should be over a little drowsiness.

“Come on,” Chan snorts, “you know I don’t get sick that easy.”

Changbin frowns, “I don’t know, hyung… you’ve been working more.”

“Not that much more than usual,” Chan reassures, “I’m fine.” He pats Changbin’s arm with a quick hand, handing him back the marker.

Before he can hop off the table, Changbin’s hand grabs his sweatshirt, pausing him in his tracks.

Chan turns to look at him, but Changbin doesn’t meet his eyes. Changbin’s mouth opens—and it even moves, searching for words—but he can’t seem to say anything, explain why. Finally, he looks up at Chan’s eyes.

“I guess I’m just”—He breaks eye contact again and lets go of Chan—”worried… And when Seungmin was… I didn’t—”

“Hey,” Chan interrupts him, “none of that was your fault. You did what you could, Bin.”

“I know, I’m,” Changbin stutters, “I just wished you let me help more.”

Chan lowered his eyes, thinking.

He knows. He knows that he should hand some work over to the others, that they can handle more of the workload, but… Especially after what happened when he let Seungmin and Hyunjin do more, it’s hard. He shouldn’t be like this as a leader, he’s supposed to just divide the work and send them out, but…

He knows he’s gotten closer to his members than he’s supposed to, in this line of work. But he’s not the only one like this, not by a long shot.

Chan looks back to Changbin; the mutant’s waiting for an answer.

“How about,” He offers, “you lead planning this time, and I’ll do edits?”

Changbin nods, puffing out his chest, “I’ll make it perfect.”

“Okay, I got it,” Chan laughs, “I’ll be expecting it.”

He hops off the table, losing his balance as stars dance, and a weird feeling travels from the bottom of his gut to his head. For a moment he almost tilts forward, before Changbin’s hand jabs out and steadies him.

“You sure you’re okay?” Changbin's grinning eyes from moments ago have already switched into worried ones.

Chan huffs out a laugh, although he feels a little less confident now, “Just got up too early. I’ve been up too long.”

Those worried eyes of his follow Chan out of the planning room as Changbin tosses out a “Get some rest, hyung!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chappie is going to probably be up tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!! it's gonna be a tiny little thing (hint: jeongchan), but i liked it enough to keep it in the story so it's getting there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> this weekend was prime for inspiration ig man;;


	20. Tired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> small little insert,,,,,,,,,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i felt the story needed a little something,,

_Ungh. Unnnngh._

“—ng.”

_What was that…?_

_Ah, whatever, he doesn’t care, he just got to sleep._

“—yung. Are you awake?”

_Jeongin?_

Chan’s face pinches as he pulls an eye open, turning over. Jeongin’s face appears maybe a little too quickly right in his face, and had he been more awake he may have almost had a heart attack, but Jeongin doesn’t need to know that.

“‘Mm,” Chan murmurs, closing his eyes again, “What’s up?”

“Can I sleep with you?” Jeongin asks timidly, “Seungmin hyung started throwing up again so Minho hyung said I couldn’t stay there anymore and it’s cold in—”

“Mm.” Chan opens his arms, grabbing Jeongin and dragging him into his bed. Jeongin’s warm, it’s nice. Changbin’s always too cold or too hot, but Jeongin’s just a little nice furnace. Perfect temperature for cuddles.

“You sure you won’t get sick?” It seems Jeongin talks more than his usual cuddle-buddies, however.

“Yep,” Chan answers, shuffling to get into a better position with the new addition to his bed.

“You seem like you’re gonna though, you’re tired all the time, and…”

Chan rolls a little, wrapping his arm around Jeongin. “Hyung’s just tired from all of Jisung’s talk. I won’t get sick, least of all from you.”

“I think I got a different bug than the rest, though,” Jeongin whispers, “I haven’t thrown up yet.”

Too many words, ungh.

Even though Chan’s sluggish mind aches a little answering, he still tries, “Bugs can show different symptoms for different people, Innie. And we came from a village, so our immune systems sometimes act a little different from the others.”

Jeongin hums, and then that’s enough for Chan to start sinking back down to sleep.

Ah, sleep.

“But I haven’t even really had a bad fever yet.”

Nnnnnn, words again.

“You’ll get there,” Chan laughs softly, then assuring him, “Don’t worry ‘bout it too hard, the less sick the better.”

And with that, Jeongin seems satisfied.

Good, stage clear.

Now, _sleep._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this might be just a little bit of indulgence filler but i mean!! i tried to shove some essentials into it
> 
> i really don't know when the next update will be, but i'll be trying to make sure there is one!!!!!!!!!!!!


	21. Station 57a

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after a while taking a look back in woojin's perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> starting to waver in my povs............... but here's this chappith

Every so often, back in Woojin’s village, a bug would rip through the whole mountain, first starting in a single family and then spreading from small village to small village until the whole school was staying home for a sick day. It was never anything too serious, never enough to take a kid off the mountain to a hospital, but it was the thing that never changed about village life.

Of course, at each village there had to be one kid that didn’t get sick, and if you were it, it seemed almost worse being the healthy one. This time, it seems Woojin and Felix get to be the designated survivors.

Just like that, all the noisier members were sick, and it seemed the whole station was sluggish and unmotivated, until… today. Woojin still doesn’t know what’s happening today, but it’s making all the kids jump about like they have fire ants crawling up their legs.

_Ding dong._

Maybe that was it.

“Yah!” Woojin narrowly avoids Hyunjin, scooting to the side as he blasts down the stairs. He reaches out an arm when Hyunjin trips over the last step, but he ends up recovering anyway without Woojin’s help.

He decides to entirely leave the stairwell when he hears quick footsteps and Jisung screaming getting louder from the second floor, “You know Chan hyung’s supposed to greet them!”

“Chan hyung’s still asleep,” Hyunjin turns back on the last step to stick out a tongue up the stairs, “and you can’t just let Jinyoung-hyungnim wait!”

Oh, Chan had mentioned something about guests. Or was that Changbin? Either way, someone had talked about another station’s members coming over to get ready for a storming. He wonders what all they have to prep. Knowing how long the older mutants stay in the planning room for, probably quite a bit.

And then, with his coffee and a scolding for the other two, Minho’s joining the bunch in the hallway.

“Chan hyung told me to let them in if he wasn’t awake by then, you punks,” And greeting Woojin with a small dip of his head, Minho is the one to open the door.

It becomes quite a bit of a commotion in the small hallway, whoever entered crowded by first Hyunjin, Jisung, and Minho, and then the three somehow gaining Felix and Seungmin immediately. Woojin tries to get a little closer to tell how many people came into the station, but he’s pushed out by the excited kids a little too soon.

“Is Chr-Chan not here?” He only really hears the voice in the pack because of the odd accent, stranger than even Chan and Felix’s Jeju accents.

As they push their way through their small crowd, Woojin can finally see one of the guests. They walk into the less crowded part of the hallway and pull back the hood of their dripping wet rain jacket, revealing slick-looking black hair, dangling earrings, and a cheeky grin.

And instead of just passing by him to go up the stairs like expected, the guy stares at him, narrowing an eye like he expected to see something other than Woojin pop out of his head.

“You’re not the, uh—” The man cuts himself off as his eyes widen.

He’s not the _what_?

The stranger sticks out a hand, sheepishly smiling as he retries, “Sorry, you must be new. I’m Bambam.”

Woojin takes his hand, somewhat cautiously, and is pleasantly surprised when his head doesn’t end up exploding or something like that.

“Already making your impression on Channie’s newbies?” Another guy is stepping out farther into the hall in no time, coming up behind him and resting an arm around Bambam’s shoulders.

He shakes some water out of his hair, effectively spraying Bambam and even reaching Woojin with a few raindrops. New guy is probably the tallest in the room, with a smile that makes Woojin nervous simply on instinct. He looks like he’d take pleasure in a few too many strange things.

“Yugyeom-ah, Bambam-ah!” Woojin turns and notes the other new face calling down from a few stairs up (which, when did he get there?), “Come on!”

The stairs guy seems familiar, but Woojin can’t place where the feeling comes from. Did he look like someone? Who?

But by the time he’s taking another look, the final arrival’s shrugging past him with a muttered, “Three newbies, is Channie’s station a foster home…?”

.....

_“-ey, hey!” Something catches him before he can hit the ground, too warm and yet not warm enough, “Jiheon, snap out of it!”_

_Mm. It almost sounded like Jeongkyun. But Jeongkyun can’t be here. No, he isn’t supposed to be here. Jiheon can’t really remember why, but he knows he isn’t supposed to be._

_“I can’t,” Jiheon’s being jostled around more, and the pounding behind his eyes really doesn’t like that, “I can’t understand you. What are you talking about?”_

_No, go away phantom Jeongkyun. Jiheon knows last time it happened too, but the hallucinations are really realistic this time._

_“-llucinations? Can you just open up your eyes for me, Jiheon?” Ugh. He can try._

_Jiheon peels an eye open, frowning when he sees Jeongkyun’s face far too close to his face._

_“Y’know,” Jiheon slurs his words, “you look kinda like a bunny.”_

_Phantom Jeongkyun scowls at that, placing the back of his hand on Jiheon’s forehead and cursing._

_Aw, why did he pull his hand away? It felt nice._

_“You’re burning up, god,” Jeongkyun mutters, glancing around like he’ll find something in Jiheon’s mom’s apartment. If you could call it that._

_Hah, like she’d keep anything useful around._

_“It’ll be fine,” Jiheon murmurs, “I was fine last time.”_

_“Jiheon,” Jeongkyun looks back to him, but it’s too tiring to keep his eyes open, “what are you…”_

_Mm. Too tiring._

_Everything’s too exhausting. He’s too tired._

_Goodnight, phantom Jeongkyun._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> almost wanting to keep it in mostly chan's pov,,,,,,,,, he's so much easier to write,,,, goodness
> 
> but any predictions? anyone wanna start a bet on what i'm tryin to put down?? you might know better than i do jdaskljkaljkfl
> 
> ((and hey! jiheon's back!!!!))


	22. Three Newbies?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prep going to prep whoop yeet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> our boy's a little dumb but he can connect at least two dots

Chan had lost Jeongin and gained a blanket before he woke up.

Shoved over his normal blanket, Jeongin must have brought in the larger comforter last night at some point when Chan was already asleep and forgot to take it with him. Chan had to ponder for a minute on how he had missed that Jeongin was such an early riser before he checked the clock and realized it was more like he had overslept.

Huh, maybe Jeongin was a better cuddle-buddy than he thought. He can’t remember the last time he’s slept a healthy amount, let alone overslept. Gotta be years by now.

Staring up at the bunk bed above him, though he can’t remember what, he has the feeling that he’s forgetting something. Maybe it has to do something with the fact that he’s pretty sure that something requires him getting up, and he just wants to sleep more.

“You can’t just let Jinyoung-hyungnim wait!” Wait—

Thanks, Hyunjin.

Chan squirms out of the blanket pile, shivering at the cold air and pulling Minho’s hoodie off the dresser. He glances to the mirror, but decides it’s not worth it to straighten his hair just to see Station 57a. Instead, he just shoves on the hoodie and pulls on some jeans laying on the top of his drawer.

“Come on!” Oh, Mark came too. That’s nice, maybe he can have him check up on Seungmin after he sorts out prep with Bambam and Jinyoung—

Chan blinks hard and jabs out his hand onto the dresser when a bout of dizziness hits him. He swallows when numbness takes over the walls of his mouth and his tongue starts to feel like a foreign object.

For a moment he stands there, allowing the feeling to ebb and then flow away.

He needs to learn not to move so much right away after he wakes up, goodness.

Yugyeom’s voice comes from right outside his door, “Channie~!”

He sucks in a deep breath and goes to the door, opening it to let the others in and then moving back to the dresser.

At first he’s surprised by the lack of immediate touch as they’re very prone to doing, but then he sees their dripping jackets as they filter in and understands.

Hm, did Jaebeom not come with the other members? Usually their station comes with him, or at least he sends a message why he wouldn’t. Maybe Jaebum’s given some of the responsibility over to Jinyoung—or Mark, possibly, but somehow Chan doesn’t imagine that would be more likely.

“Does M.P.A. really like you that much that they sent three newbies?” Jinyoung asks, closing the door quietly behind him.

So Jinyoung’s the first to speak, so he was probably—Wait.

Three newbies? Wha—

Yugyeom answers for him from where he slid himself onto Chan’s bed, “You know Channie’s a favorite at headquarters. I don’t know why you’re surprised every single time.”

“I mean,” Bambam adds from Minho’s bed, “first he gets dibs on a _triple_ kid and then even on a off-limits backup? Channie’s got talent.” Chan doesn’t know if he appreciates the thumbs up in his direction.

But really, what were they talking about?

“You know Minho would be insulted if he knew you even insinuated HQ could make him do something,” Chan reminds him, leaning back against the dresser, “but what are you all even saying? I told you we got two newbies this time around.”

Jinyoung tilts his head a little, frowning. Mark raises his eyebrows at the both of them, going to join Yugyeom on Chan’s bed.

“You got _another_ double kid?” Jinyoung huffs after a moment, shaking his head in disbelief, “You have got some luck there, aigoo.”

Chan shakes his head, knocking his heel against the dresser softly as he thinks. If Jinyoung senses three new powers… No…

“As far as I know,” He glances over at the door, “the two of them have one power each.”

Jeongin was even telling him last night… He shows the right symptoms for it… He’s even in the right age range. Oh god, Chan thought he was done with pulling kids through a power surfacing after his fun time with Changbin.

“Oh,” Yugyeom says, “then that’s a different type of luck there, buddy. Sucks to suck.”

He looks over to Bambam, waiting for his own input. But instead, Bambam’s eyes are cast to the door, eyebrows pulled down in a serious expression that seriously didn’t belong on his face.

“Well, that explains why I couldn’t tell what it was,” Jinyoung mutters, “wish you well for that.”

Chan forces himself to drag his eyes off of Bambam, pulling the green sneakers off the dresser next to him and tossing them to Jinyoung.

“I’ll have to deal with it later. But enough for now,” Chan pulls the topic back to what they were there for, “these are Na Kyeongwon’s, kid’s got a shapeshifting power that crosses species lines, he might be going through another power surfacing of his own.”

Jinyoung catches them, examining them with narrowed eyes.

He looks back up at Chan. “You don’t need these back, right?”

Chan nods, stopping after a moment when his headache reminded him that it was there, but it’s still enough for Jinyoung to get the message.

“Well, what’s the plan?”

.....

Chan waves them out after explaining and having Mark check in on Seungmin ("healing good," he had said, "just a harmless bug").

But now he has a bigger problem. Jeongin, power surfacing.

Those are never great, and never have a good timing, but this is some of the worst timing he’s had the displeasure of having. Right when they’re preparing for a storming, amazing. Who’s gonna have to be on Jeongin-watching? Maybe he can ask a favor from Jimin or one from 70b. Sangyeon could probably spare one of his boys.

Jeongin might not be too bad right now, but Chan knows first-hand, second-hand, all hands about the lull that comes right before the fever kicks in. They have a few days at most before they’ll need someone to babysit and make sure the fever doesn’t get so high that it harms him.

Chan doesn’t remember his own power surfacing beyond a few odd memories, but he does remember his mother talking about how bad his fever got, and what all she had to do. And he remembers having to do all that for Changbin a few years back when he first met the boy.

He takes a seat on the stairs when his head starts to spin again, carefully latching onto the rail.

He’s definitely going to have to talk to the boys about this. Just... when he can get up to go talk to them without vomiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i;;;;; what is this feeling;;;;;;;;; i just wanna keep writing from chan's pov;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
> 
> thoughts on if i based it more in chan's for a bit?
> 
> also i looked up "stair handle" bc this boy is losing all his english and can't even remember what a railing is anymore;;;;


	23. Something's Not Adding Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> changbin & chan again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mayhaps i've been waiting since chapter 14 for this one

“How did the meeting go?”

The marker squeals against the board as Chan pauses.

Having saddled his chair up to the wall, Chan had started scribbling down a few notes from the meeting a while ago before he would forget. Then it had somehow turned into a whole theorizing time, but Chan doesn’t really remember when the switch started.

Chan answers Changbin, “Good enough.”

His footsteps knock against the floor, getting louder as he comes closer.

“But,” Chan glances over at Changbin, leaning back in his chair, “Jinyoung hyung sensed three new powers.”

Changbin blinks, stumbling over to take a seat next to Chan, “Three? Was he sure?”

“Yeah,” He replaces the cap on the marker, slipping it back onto the table, “so I was trying to remember what all to do for route one power surfacings.”

Silence.

Chan glances over at Changbin, looking for the response he had expected. Instead of dread or even excitement, Changbin tilts his head and narrows his eyes, confusion etched into his brows. _It isn’t that hard, Changbin_.

He sort of gets it. It’s not common for mutants to gain their powers late teens. But really, there’s not really a clear cut-off date for those types of things, maybe if you took out a few extreme cases it was still possible in even early 20’s. Especially if Jeongin had got his first power early, then any secondary powers are more likely to come late.

“Jeongin’s not that out of the range,” Chan reminds him, “you weren’t that much younger with your last one.”

“That’s not what—” Changbin shakes his head, huffing, “It’s just that Jeongin was all better this morning. Woke up fine.”

Now it’s Chan’s turn to be confused.

While the lull exists, it’s not like they get better all of a sudden and then go straight back into it. Usually they just get worse and worse, starting with the exhaustion and other cold symptoms and then going into a fever.

If not Jeongin, then who?

_Seungmin?_

“What about Seungmin?” Chan questions.

Changbin frowns, eyes thrown heavenward to remember, “He… he was still sick last I knew. I thought Woojin hyung said his fever was letting up but I don’t know.”

“Hm,” He gazes at the white boards, “He’s on the borderlines too…”

Seungmin’s father was a single-facet mutant, but from what Chan knows his mother isn’t a mutant at all. Maybe it skipped a generation or two? And…

Ugh, dizzy spell again.

“Chan hyung,” He blinks his eyes open when Changbin nudges his shoulder.

When did he close his eyes?

“Come on,” Changbin tugs at his—well, Minho’s hoodie, “if you’re getting sick you shouldn’t be pushing yourself up here. I can talk to the others.”

Chan hums, forcing his heavy eyelids back up. He would try to deny some more, but he’s not too confident in his acting skills. He’s not too confident in his standing skills at this point.

“Hyung, at least stay awake,” Changbin’s voice seems to fade in and out.

“I’ll make my way down in a little bit,” Chan murmurs, rubbing a hand against his eyes to stay awake.

For a while, he almost thinks Changbin took his advice and went before he turns a little bit and just finds Changbin’s judging look.

“Was that even Korean?” Changbin shakes his head, getting up, “You’re coming with me so I can make sure you make it to your bed and not fall down the stairs.”

He offers a hand that Chan takes, and suddenly Chan’s being pulled upwards and static washes over his vision.

“Hey, hey,” The static blurs back into reality as Changbin struggles to keep him upward, “easy.”

His fault for pulling him up too fast.

The stairs are a blur of Changbin complaining and Chan trying to keep conscious. He only finally gives up when he’s been fully dragged to his bed, and by then he really doesn’t have a choice.

.....

A floor upward, forgotten and stranded underneath packets and papers and folders, Chan’s phone buzzes as the screen lights up.

_**bambambambam:** so uhh_   
_i kinda_

_**bambambambam:** so you know precognitions sucka nd all_

_**bambambambam:** well what i mean is_

_**bambambambam:** ...i had a precognition about your station_   
_you and bear lookin guy and shapeshifter_   
_well i guess the others were there too_

_**bambambambam:** but about that extra power hyung sensed_   
_so like we finally know if your dad was a mutant too!!_

_**bambambambam:** chris?_   
_usually you’d respond by now??????_   
_come on this is kinda important youre literally the leader and youre gonna be outta comission for like?? idk how long actually i didnt help with any surfacings_

_**bambambambam:** damnit i knew i was too late_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so what do yall think?? i spent good time and energy on my false leads, please,,,,,,,,,,
> 
> and idk if i'm satisfied with this chappie yet but i don't think i'm getting anything done with more editing;;;;;;


	24. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everything sorta gets;; mixed up in a fever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why this took me so long;;;;;;;;
> 
> some korean terms i've romanized for this chap:  
> \- samchun: 삼춘, uncle (closer to jeju pronunciation?)  
> \- ahjeubang: 아즈방, jeju equivalent of 아저씨 (ahjussi), middle-aged man  
> \- halmang: 할망, jeju equivalent of 할머니 (halmeoni), grandmother

_“Chris.”_

A chill runs from the top of his head to his toes.

_“Baby, follow Samchun and I’ll be right behind you,” Moonlight gleams in her eyes where she crouched down to meet his, “but you gotta be quiet, okay?”_

_The whisper bounces off the windows and the pictures, just louder than the crickets outside._

_Almost drowning out her voice, raindrops drum on the thatched roof like acorns dropping in late summer. Yongjoon ahjeubang had promised no rain tonight, but something must have changed. Maybe it was that radio broadcast?_

_Footsteps squelch in mud outside: the type of mud that he has to lift with all his might to break his heel free, not the type that’s fun and easy to splash and gets the halmangs to yell at him from their porches._

_Loud enough to prompt an audible shushing from Samchun, he hears Brian’s voice outside, complaining about something or another, outside his house. He almost expects Brian to keep going, but then it happens._

_A loud popping from the far side of the village silences all but the rain._

_The rain doesn’t stop for anything. Anyone._

He shivers. _There must be an open window: it’s cold._

_No, no, that’s not right. Can’t be right, even if a window—it’s summer._

_“Samchun’ll take good care of you,” Tears cross the smile that spreads across her face as she reaches out a calloused hand. She holds his face, rubbing a finger across his tear-stained cheek, and shushes him with a shake of her head._

_He raises a hand to place over hers, but he can’t feel anything. Where is she?_

“...wasn’t like that when I brought him down.” Something freezing touches his skin, shoved against his forehead.

He tries to tell them to quit it, but he doesn’t know if the grunt that comes out instead is really helpful. Either way, it leaves after a second or two. “Fever’s pretty high. If hyung...”

_Water dribbles from the showerhead as the warden peels off the rag. Eyes screwed shut behind the blindfold, his lungs shudder as he coughs out phlegm and blood._

_Damp air reeking of mold and the biting smell of copper that he tastes under his tongue sits stagnant in the room; it’s enough to gag on. Even with the blindfold on, he feels the eyes from the other side of the mirror._

_“How well do you honestly expect to live here,” Lim’s voice echos against the walls as he undoes the blindfold, “if you aren’t willing to compromise?”_

_His coughing subsides long enough for him to get a good breath in, so he finally swallows back what all came up his throat. The lack of air launches him into another coughing fit for a moment._

_This time, Lim is gracious enough to let him take his time and catch his breath as Chan opens his eyes._

_Well, eye. The left one hasn’t really opened since last night._

_Last night._

“Is it raining?” That’s Minho, that dismayed voice floating around the room.

A few creaks muffle the sound of chatter outside, and then it settles and it’s quiet again.

Another voice, sheepishly, replies, “It was nice out earlier.”

But why was Minho here?

_“Breathe with me,” Chan waves Jisung away, closing the door and cautiously watching the shapeshifter struggle to drag in a breath._

_It had only been a few minutes ago that Minho had been teasing the maknae of Station 74b, taking him upstairs to make sure he got bandaged properly (and probably to flirt more). Chan hadn’t thought much about it; saying the two seemed fated to get along well is a bit of an understatement. It’s a dangerous thing to date in their lives, but Chan hopes they work something out. Jisung’s been happy recently._

_So he left them to their own devices, instead checking on Changbin’s arm._

_But before he could even finish, Jisung was rushing down the stairs, blubbering out quick nonsense that mostly contained the words “upstairs” and “Minho-ssi” and “accident”._

_And now, piercing in the shadow cast by his brow, Minho’s eyes latch onto his. For a moment, his face flickers, giving Chan enough hope knowing he at least noticed Chan. He reaches out a hand, hesitating._

_“Minho-ssi,” His hand hovers carefully just above Minho’s arm, “can I touch you?”_

No…

No, this isn’t right. Minho’s a part of the station now… wasn’t he?

_Minho breaks the lock of their eyes, jerking his head in a nod._

_No, no, if he was then Chan wouldn’t have hesitated to touch him. He knows his members, even down to the name of Seungmin’s childhood dog._

_Wait._

Something cold gets shoved into his ear. He tries to hit it away, wave it off, but his hand doesn’t get much further than the comforter. Damn it.

He pulls his head away, but then there are cold hands holding his chin in place, and he can’t really pull more energy to try again. At least the cold hands feel nice against his too hot skin. It feels like he’s on fire.

Maybe he is. Should he go ask Changbin to go get a fire extinguisher?

“If it gets any higher than this,” A voice distracts him from his idea, “it’s going to hurt him.”

Whose voice was that? It’s on the tip of his tongue, he swears.

“I’ve been trying my best but I can’t figure it out,” Oh, he knows that voice. No way that deep voice isn’t Felix.

A silence falls over them and then the cold hands are moving through his hair. Oh, that feels good. He pushes his head further into the hand, and he feels more than hears the breathless laughter from whoever it is.

“Has Changbin been reworking the plan?”

“Yeah,” Felix answers, “him and Jisung asked the 57a hyungs for more help.”

“That’s good…”

He moves his head again when the hand stops, resting it back onto it.

The sound of nothing pulls him back into sleep. He wishes it wouldn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i did a little experimenting with how to write this chapter so i hope it at least turned out okay ://///
> 
> also i've been distracting myself with watching the video of bada and insooni singing father and crying,,, i'm wrecked emotionally yall should go wreck yourselves on that video too ngl it's so good

**Author's Note:**

> tell me what yall think,,,,, please,,,,,,,,,


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